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I  29.88/5:  B  56 

Clemson  University 


3  1604  019  570  81 


THE 

BLACK 

EXPERIENCE 
IN  NATCHEZ 

1720-1880 

SPECIAL  HISTORY  STUDY 
By  Ronald  LF,  Davis 

NATCHEZ  NATIONAL  HISTORICAL  PARK*  MISSISSIPPI 


® 


Printed  on  Recycled  Paper 


Special  History  Study 

April  1993 


by 
Ronald  L.F.  Davis,  Ph.D 


The  Black  Experience  in  Natchez 

1720-1880 

NATCHEZ 

National  Historical  Park  •  Mississippi 


United  States  Department  of  the  Interior  •  National  Park  Service  •  Denver  Service  Center 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

LYRASIS  Members  and  Sloan  Foundation 


http://archive.org/details/blackexperienceiOOdavi 


CONTENTS 

Illustrations  and  Tables    iv 

Acknowledgments    v 

The  Origins  of  Slavery  in  Natchez     1 

Characteristics  of  Natchez  Slavery    21 

The  Plantation  Milieu    21 

Town  Slaves     39 

Estate  Slaves     44 

The  Free  Blacks  of  Natchez 51 

The  Natchez  Slave  Market    67 

Coping  with  Slavery    93 

The  Slave  Family  as  a  Mechanism  of  Social  Control     125 

Paternalism 126 

The  Use  of  Terror    136 

The  Invisible  World  of  Slavery     140 

Breaking  for  Freedom:  The  Civil  War  Years 143 

Confederate  Natchez    143 

Breaking  Faith  with  the  Master     148 

Soldiers  and  Refugees    161 

Freedom's  Promise/Freedom's  Reality    180 

Good  and  Faithful  Labor    182 

Black  Landownership     194 

The  Social  and  Political  Milieu     200 

Epilogue    211 

Selected  Bibliography    217 


in 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Illustration  A: 
Illustration  B: 
Illustration  C: 
Illustration  D: 
Illustration  E: 
Illustration  F: 
Illustration  G: 
Illustration  H: 
Illustration  I: 
Illustration  J: 
Illustration  K: 
Illustration  L: 
Illustration  M: 


Historical  Base  Map    2 

Antebellum  Adams  County    3 

Town  and  Fort    8 

Outlying  Pioneer  Settlement  Locations  cl780s    11 

Early  Slave  Trade  Routes    14 

Suburban  Estates  —  cl830  to  1860     20 

Slave  Cabins     32 

Slave  Trade  Routes  1830-1860 69 

Natchez  Slave  Markets   81 

Forks-of-the-Road  cl900    83 

Occupied  Natchez    163 

Black  Owned  Plantations  cl880s     197 

Black  Natchez     209 


TABLES 

Table  1: 

Table  2. 

Table  3. 

Table  4. 

Table  5. 

Table  6. 

Table  7. 

Table  8. 

Table  9. 

Table  10. 

Table  11. 

Table  12. 

Table  13. 

Table  14. 

Table  15  (a) 

Table  15  (b) 

Table  16. 

Table  17. 

Table  18. 

Table  19. 

Slave  Sales  in  Natchez:  The  Spanish  Period 12 

Mississippi  River  Counties  and  Parishes  Slave  and  Free 

Populations    18 

Production  for  Select  Plantations  —  1860    24 

Occupants  of  Concordia  Slave  Cabins  in  1860    33 

Population  in  Natchez    40 

Free  Black  Nuclear  Families  Profiled     53 

Free  Black  and  White  Households      54 

Slave  Sales  in  the  Natchez  Weekly  Courier  in  1850    78 

Black  Related  Items  in  Natchez  Newspapers:  1847-1859    137 

Provost  Marshal  Reports    159 

Service  Records  of  U.S.  Colored  Troops  at  Fort  McPherson    165 

Age  and  Place  of  Birth  of  Black  Soldiers  at  Natchez  58th  U.S. 

Colored  Infantry    169 

Sample  of  Individuals  Born  in  Adams  County  58th.  Colored  U.S. 

Infantry:  Co.  E 170 

Casualties  Among  Black  Soldiers  in  Natchez      172 

Baptisms  of  Black  Refugees  and  Soldiers  (Children)     174 

Baptisms  Continued  (Adults)     174 

Freedmen  Agricultural  Families  Adams  County  and  Concordia 

Parish,  1880     184 

The  Black  Family  in  1860  and  1880     189 

African-Americans  in  Natchez  in  1870     201 

Natchez  Black  Political  Leaders,  1865-1890     203 


IV 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 


The  following  special  history  study  of  the  black  experience  in  Natchez,  Mississippi,  from 
1720  to  1880,  was  undertaken  at  the  request  of  the  National  Park  Service  to  assist  in  the 
site  interpretation  of  the  Natchez  National  Historical  Park.  The  author  contracted  with 
the  Park  Service  in  early  1991,  with  a  deadline  of  six  months  for  the  completed  report. 
Fifteen  months  later,  in  April  1992,  a  draft  manuscript  was  submitted  for  review. 

The  successful  completion  of  "The  Natchez  Project,"  as  it  has  come  to  be  known  among  my 
graduate  students,  is  but  an  introduction  to  the  subject.  The  report  can  be  no  more  than 
a  sampling  of  the  topic  in  the  brief  time  devoted  to  its  preparation.  As  a  result,  many 
questions  raised  are  left  unanswered.  The  report  will  hopefully  serve  as  a  foundation  for 
future  scholarship,  including  continued  work  of  my  own. 

As  would  be  expected,  a  study  of  such  complexity  could  not  have  been  produced  in  the  brief 
time  allotted  without  the  assistance  of  a  number  of  people.  Foremost  among  those  to  be 
acknowledged  are  several  research  assistants  who  did  much  of  the  scholarship  upon  which 
the  report  is  based.  Specifically,  Linda  Erdman  and  Cecie  Shulman  have  been  involved 
with  the  study  from  the  start.  Graduate  students  at  California  State  University, 
Northridge,  Ms.  Erdman  and  Ms.  Shulman  transcribed  and  interpreted  census  materials, 
land  records,  and  legal  documents  with  painstaking  care  and  attention.  Most  of  the 
newspaper  and  census  research  in  the  study  is  their  work.  Ms.  Shulman,  moreover,  did 
a  final  editing  of  the  manuscript  that  greatly  improved  its  style  and  coherence.  A  third 
graduate  student,  Ms.  Joyce  Hoggan,  joined  the  team  in  August,  1991,  assisting  in  detailed 
map  and  records  analysis  over  the  next  several  months.  All  three  read  and  reread  every 
word  of  the  manuscript,  closely  edited  the  text,  accompanied  me  on  a  research  trip  to 
Natchez  in  December  of  1991,  and  greatly  influenced  my  analysis  of  the  evidence.  Clearly, 
the  report  could  not  have  been  completed  but  for  their  contributions. 

Assisting  also  in  the  research  was  my  wife,  Patricia  Davis,  my  daughter,  Stacey,  and  my 
son,  Christian.  Stacey,  who  is  now  a  graduate  student  in  history  at  Yale  University,  was 
(at  the  time  of  her  work  on  the  report)  in  her  senior  year  as  a  history  major  at  Princeton 
University;  Christian,  who  is  now  a  freshman  majoring  in  history  at  Swarthmore  College, 
was  a  high  school  senior.  The  three  devoted  a  good  part  of  the  summer  of  1991  to  a 
research  trip  to  the  National  Archives,  to  archival  holdings  at  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  Duke  University,  and  Louisiana  State  University,  and  to  Natchez.  They 
transcribed  manuscript  materials,  interpreted  documents,  and  pored  over  legal  records  in 
the  Office  of  Records  in  Natchez  for  days  on  end.  Their  assistance  was  no  less  than 
essential. 

Additionally,  a  number  of  other  graduate  students  at  CSUN  also  participated  in  the 
Natchez  Project.  In  March,  1992,  after  the  completion  of  the  draft  version  of  the 
manuscript,  I  traveled  to  Natchez  with  my  graduate  seminar  (funded  by  University 
monies)  for  ten  days  of  research.  Each  student  in  the  seminar  examined  an  aspect  of  the 
report.  Their  resulting  essays  will  be  available  for  scholars  in  the  archives  at  Melrose,  one 
of  the  sites  at  the  Natchez  National  Historical  Park. 


In  undertaking  the  above  research,  several  people  in  Natchez  were  invaluable  for  their 
assistance.  First  was  Mimi  Miller,  a  historic  preservationist  with  the  Historic  Natchez 
Foundation.  Ms.  Miller  is  an  expert  on  the  history  of  Natchez,  and  she  graciously  shares 
her  knowledge  with  no  thought  of  return  to  herself.  She,  along  with  her  husband  Ron 
Miller,  who  is  the  director  of  the  Historic  Natchez  Foundation,  made  available  Foundation 
files,  led  me  to  numerous  resources  that  I  would  never  have  found  on  my  own,  and 
introduced  me  to  key  individuals  in  Natchez.  By  all  rights,  Mimi  Miller  —  in  view  of  her 
expertise  —  should  have  undertaken  this  study.  My  own  efforts  can  only  approximate  her 
grasp  of  the  situation. 

In  addition  to  Mimi  Miller,  a  number  of  other  people  provided  important  assistance.  Dr. 
J.  R.  Todd  devoted  a  long  afternoon  to  driving  me  around  Natchez,  explaining  the 
historical  aspects  of  neighborhoods  and  sites.  He  served,  moreover,  unknown  to  him,  as 
my  best  critic  in  the  sense  that  I  always  had  him  in  mind  while  writing  the  report.  Dr. 
Thomas  Gandy  opened  his  photo  archives  to  my  perusal,  answering  a  hundred  questions 
that  greatly  assisted  my  "feel"  for  the  people  about  whom  I  was  writing.  Other  Natchez 
citizens  who  helped  me  along  the  way  included  Rev.  Charles  Bartley,  George  Dunkley,  Ora 
Frazier,  Fred  Ferguson,  George  Moss,  Rev.  David  O'Connor,  Carolyn  Vance  Smith, 
Catherine  Singer,  and  Thelma  Williams,  along  with  the  staff  at  the  Adams  County  Office 
of  Records  and  Office  of  the  Circuit  Clerk. 

Among  the  many  archivists  helpful  in  my  work,  the  staff  at  Louisiana  State  University 
at  Baton  Rouge  and  the  Mississippi  Department  of  Archives  and  History  at  Jackson 
especially  deserve  my  thanks  and  appreciation.  No  request  was  too  trivial  or  too  great  for 
them  to  handle.  Special  mention  should  be  made  of  Ms.  Ann  Lipscomb,  archivist  at 
MDAH.  She  is  the  model  of  a  helpful  and  informed  archivist.  Doing  research  within  her 
domain  was  simply  delightful,  principally  because  of  her  keen  interest  in  the  advance  of 
scholarship.  Professionals  like  Ms.  Lipscomb  are  diamonds  indeed. 

Special  mention  should  also  be  made  of  the  two  people  from  the  National  Park  Service 
with  whom  I  worked:  Stuart  Johnson,  the  Superintendent  of  the  Natchez  National 
Historical  Park,  and  Sharon  Brown,  the  historian  from  the  Denver  Service  Center  who 
guided  the  project  from  its  inception.  Superintendent  Johnson,  a  historian  by  training,  was 
always  supportive  and  patient,  offering  a  number  of  truly  profound  suggestions  that 
greatly  strengthened  my  analysis  and  interpretation.  Dr.  Brown  could  not  have  been  more 
helpful.  Her  enthusiasm  for  the  project,  interpretive  and  editorial  comments,  support  for 
additional  funding,  encouragement,  and  interest  in  Natchez  are  among  the  principal 
reasons  why  the  report  is  now  at  hand.  She,  like  Anna  Lipscomb  and  Mimi  Miller,  is  a 
treasure  to  be  cherished. 

Finally,  it  is  important  to  acknowledge  a  number  of  people  at  CSUN  who  supported  the 
Natchez  Project.  David  Fuller,  a  cartographer  with  the  Department  of  Geography,  did  the 
map  drawings  for  the  report,  often  working  on  his  own  time  to  make  changes  in  the 
renderings.  The  Chair  of  the  Geographv  Department,  Professor  William  Bowen,  allowed 
me  to  use  department  facilities  and  staff  in  ways  that  demonstrated  his  collegial  support 
for  the  interdependence  of  the  disciplines.  My  good  friend,  Professor  Warren  Bland,  a 
geographer  at  CSUN,  offered  helpful  editorial  and  interpretive  assistance  along  the  way 
that  was  always  as  encouraging  as  it  was  insightful.  Professor  Gene  Price,  Chair  of  the 
Political  Science  Department,  read  the  manuscript  in  its  entirety  with  a  perceptive  eye  for 


V] 


which  he  is  well-known  at  the  University.  Dr.  Mack  Johnson,  Associate  Vice  President  of 
Research  and  Graduate  Programs,  and  Professor  Thomas  Bader,  chair  of  the  CSUN 
History  Department,  mindful  of  the  importance  of  original  research  in  the  training  of 
graduate  students,  provided  financial  support  for  the  student  seminar  trip  in  March  and 
much  encouragement  for  my  scholarship  in  the  last  eighteen  months. 

Most  importantly,  two  people  in  the  Dean's  office  were  incredibly  helpful  to  my  research. 
Professor  Ralph  Vicero,  Dean  of  the  School  of  Social  and  Behavioral  Sciences,  and  his 
Administrative  Associate,  Lyndia  Wurthman,  supported  my  students  with  research  and 
travel  funds,  helped  me  to  purchase  needed  microfilm,  procured  appropriate  technical 
assistance,  and  expressed  an  interest  in  my  scholarship  that  did  much  to  encourage  my 
efforts.  Both  Dean  Vicero  and  Ms.  Wurthman  immediately  understood,  without  having  to 
be  told,  the  significant  educational  benefits  to  be  gained  from  involving  California  students 
in  the  long  ago  and  multicultural  history  of  Natchez,  Mississippi.  For  such  wisdom  and 
friendship  to  history,  they  are  to  be  commended. 

Ronald  L.  F.  Davis 
November  1,  1992 


vn 


THE  ORIGINS  OF  SLAVERY  IN  NATCHEZ 


The  first  evidence  of  African-Americans  in  Natchez  dates  from  around  1720,  when  black 
slaves  were  brought  into  the  area  by  the  French.  At  that  time,  Natchez  was  a  wilderness 
outpost  of  the  French  empire  in  the  Mississippi  River  Valley.  A  few  years  earlier  the 
French  had  established  a  fort  (Rosalie)  on  the  bluffs  overlooking  the  Mississippi  River 
about  three  hundred  miles  by  water  above  New  Orleans.  Among  other  French  settlements 
in  the  so-called  Natchez  district  of  West  Florida  were  the  older  gulf  ports  of  Mobile  and 
Biloxi,  the  more  recently  founded  New  Orleans,  and  several  isolated  river  encampments 
planted  in  the  region  between  New  Orleans  and  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo  River.  These  river 
nodes  included  Point  Coupee  and  Baton  Rouge,  several  days  river  journey  below  the 
Natchez  settlement.1  (See  ILLUSTRATIONS  A  and  B) 

The  introduction  of  black  slaves  into  the  Natchez  wilderness  was  directly  related  to  the 
plans  of  the  infamous  John  Law.  His  Company  of  the  West  had  been  given  the  task,  in 
1717,  of  developing  the  lower  Mississippi  River  Valley  into  a  profitable  component  of  the 
French  empire  in  the  New  World.  It  was  the  Company's  intent  to  bring  some  3000  African 
slaves  to  Louisiana  to  cultivate  a  system  of  plantations  stretching  along  the  Mississippi 
River  from  New  Orleans  to  as  far  north  as  the  Arkansas.  According  to  Law's  plan,  black 
slaves  would  plant  and  cultivate  tobacco,  grow  and  ferment  indigo,  cut  timber,  build  forts, 
and  work  a  thriving  river  traffic  in  upcountry  furs,  deerskins,  corn,  and  salted  meats  (and 
possibly  silver)  in  a  trading  network  from  Quebec  to  New  Orleans.  In  times  of  war, 
moreover,  the  slaves  would  provide  the  Company  with  an  army  of  enslaved  soldiers  to  be 
used  against  opposing  Indians  and  European  competitors.2 


1.  See  the  following  published  volumes  for  source  materials  and  bibliography  on  the  early  history  of  the 
Natchez  settlement:  J.F.H.  Claiborne,  Mississippi  as  a  Province,  Territory  and  State,  I  (Jackson,  Miss.,  1880); 
Verner  W.  Crane,  The  Southern  Frontier,  1670-1732  (Philadelphia,  Pa..  1929);  Marcel  Giraud,  A  History  of 
French  Louisiana,  V  (Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1991)  pp.  388-440;  Gwendolyn  Midlo  Hall,  Africans  in  Colonial 
Louisiana:  The  Development  of  Afro-Creole  Culture  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  (Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1992);  Walter 
G.  Howell,  "The  French  Period,  1699  -  1763,"  in  Richard  Aubrey  McLemore,  (ed.),  A  History  of  Mississippi,  I 
(Hattiesburg,  Miss.,  1973),  pp.  110-133;  D.  Clayton  James,  Antebellum  Natchez  (Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1968); 
Ulysses  S.  Richard,  Jr.,  "African  Slavery  in  Provincial  Mississippi,"  in  Patricia  K.  Galloway,  (ed.),  Native 
European  and  African  Cultures  in  Mississippi,  1500-1800,  (Jackson,  Miss.,  1991),  pp.  77-90;  M.  Le  Page  du 
Patz,  The  History  of  Louisiana  (Reprint  Edition  of  1758,  Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1972),  pp.  18-100;  Dunbar  Rowland 
and  Albert  G.  Sanders,  (ed.),  Mississippi  Provincial  Archives:  French  Dominion,  3  vols  (Jackson,  Miss.,  1929). 
Volumes  4-5  are  edited  by  Patricia  Kay  Galloway  and  published  by  LSL1  Press,  Baton  Rouge,  1984.  In  addition 
to  these  sources,  further  scholarship  would  have  to  rely  on  archival  materials  housed  in  the  French  Colonial 
Documents  at  the  Library  of  Congress,  the  Mississippi  Provincial  Archives  at  the  Mississippi  Department  of 
Archives  in  Jackson,  Mississippi,  and  the  Archives  Nationale,  Paris.  Published  materials  for  further  study 
would  include  N.M.  Miller  Surrey's  Calendar  of  Manuscripts  in  Paris  Archives  and  Libraries  Relating  to  the 
History  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  to  1803,  2  vols  (Privately  Printed,  1928)  and  The  Commerce  of  Louisiana 
During  the  French  Regime,  1699-1763,  Columbia  University  Studies  in  History,  Economics,  and  Public  Law, 
LXXI  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1916). 

2.  See  especially  John  G.  Clark,  New  Orleans  —  1718-1812:  An  Economic  History  (Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1970), 
pp.  3-158;  Earl  J.  Hamilton,  "The  Role  of  Monopoly  in  the  Overseas  Expansion  and  Colonial  Trade  of  Europe 
before  1800,"  American  Economic  Review  XXXVIII  (May,  1948),  33-53;  Harold  Dalgliesh,  The  Company  of  the 
Indies  in  the  Days  of  Dupleix  (Easton,  Pa.,  1833);  Rowland,  MPA,  I,  p.  55;  Claiborne,  pp.  34-43. 


MISSISSIPPI 


LOUISIANA 


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3 


Fort  Rosalie,  named  in  honor  of  the  wife  of  a  French  minister,  was  to  be  one  of  several 
garrisons  erected  by  the  Company  to  protect  the  plantation  district  in  the  making,  and  by 
1724  a  crude  frontier  settlement  had  been  planted  in  its  environs.  Estimates  of  the  non- 
Indian  population  in  the  Natchez  settlement  at  the  fort  range  from  around  400  settlers  in 
the  mid-1720s  to  approximately  750  by  1729.  Among  these  were  200  to  300  black  slaves, 
most  of  whom  worked  in  the  production  of  tobacco.  Although  there  is  no  sure  way  of 
knowing  how  many  of  the  Natchez  blacks  were  children,  or  the  ratio  of  men  to  women, 
young  males  probably  outnumbered  all  others  given  that  the  work  was  arduous  and 
backbreaking.  Besides  making  barrels  and  planting  tobacco,  Natchez  slaves  cleared  the 
forest,  hauled  cargos  upriver  from  New  Orleans,  dug  trenches,  fenced  farm  lands,  and 
erected  barricades  and  crude  shelters  for  humans  and  animals  alike.  Most  of  the  slaves 
were  owned  by  French  masters  who  held  no  more  than  three  or  four,  except  for  one  group 
of  thirty  brought  to  Natchez  for  the  special  purpose  of  developing  a  tobacco  factory  (the 
making  of  hogsheads  and  pressing  tobacco  leaves).  So  successful  were  the  African  slaves 
as  an  agricultural  labor  force  that  much  of  the  tobacco  shipped  from  New  Orleans  in  the 
1720s  came  from  the  Natchez  region.3 

In  the  decade  prior  to  1720,  the  French  had  experimented  with  enslaving  Louisiana 
Indians  as  farm  workers;  but  the  scheme  never  worked  very  well  for  a  number  of  related 
reasons:  (1)  local  Indians  easily  escaped  into  the  surrounding  wilderness;  (2)  those  Indians 
who  failed  to  escape  were  thought  to  be  hopelessly  unsuited  for  disciplined  work;  and  (3) 
military  and  church  officials  worried  about  having  large  numbers  of  female  Indian  slaves 
close  at  hand  to  garrisoned  soldiers.4  African  captives,  on  the  other  hand,  were  considered 
a  better  labor  force  than  Native-Americans  partly  because  (as  aliens  in  a  hostile 
wilderness)  they  would  have  little  chance,  by  comparison,  to  escape.  It  was  commonly 
assumed,  moreover,  that  black  slaves,  because  of  their  agricultural  backgrounds  in  Africa, 
were  more  accustomed  than  Indians  to  the  hard  work  of  indigo  and  tobacco  farming.  Not 
to  be  forgotten,  professional  slave  traders,  with  ready  access  to  African  slaves,  used  their 
influence  with  the  French  Company  to  support  a  policy  that  favored  blacks  as  slave 
workers  on  the  West  Florida  frontier.5 

Law's  Company  of  the  West  collapsed  in  1723,  in  a  spectacular  case  of  bankruptcy  that 
shook  France  to  its  foundation.  A  successor  enterprise,  the  revived  Company  of  the  Indies, 
was  granted  Law's  monopoly  on  the  slave  trade  to  Louisiana,  which  it  held  for  the 
succeeding  thirty  years,  even  though  the  colony  reverted  to  royal  status  in  1730.  It  has 


3.  Claiborne.  Mississippi,  p.  38;  Committee  of  Louisiana  to  the  Directors  of  the  Company,  November  8,  1724, 
MPA  III;  dc  Bienvielle  to  de  Pontchartrain.  January  2,  1716,  MPA  III;  Memoir  on  Louisiana  by  de  Bienvielle, 
1726.  MPA  III;  Memoir  on  Tobacco  at  Natchez.  October  24,  1724,  MPA  III;  Minutes  of  the  Council  of 
Commerce  of  Louisiana,  October  19,  1719.  MPA  III;  Minutes  of  the  Superior  Council  of  Louisiana,  March  8, 
1724,  MPA  III. 

4.  de  Bienvielle  to  de  Pontchartrain,  July  28,  1706;  MPA  II;  de  Bienville  to  de  Pontchartrain.  October  12. 
1708,  MPA  II;  Census  od  Louisiana  by  De  La  Salle.  August  12.  1708,  MPA  II;  King  Louis  XD7  to  De  Muy, 
Governor  of  Louisiana,  June  30,  1707,  MPA  III;  Minutes  of  the  Council,  January  2,  1716,  MPA  II;  Perier  to 
the  Abbe  Raguet.  May  12.  1728.  MPA  II. 

5.  Clark.  New  Orleans,  pp.  21-45;  Howell,  "The  French  Period:  1699-1763,"  McLemore.  (ed.\  Mississippi,  pp. 
110-132;  Messrs,  Perier  and  De  La  Chaise  to  the  Directors  of  the  Companv  of  the  Indies,  March  25,  1729, 
November  3.  1728.  MPA  IT. 


been  estimated  that  nearly  6000  black  slaves  were  transported  from  Guinea  and  the 
French  West  Indies  to  Louisiana  by  1763,  when  Louisiana  was  ceded  to  the  Spanish  —  a 
surprisingly  small  number  given  the  tens  of  thousands  of  slaves  caught  up  at  that  time 
in  the  traffic  to  the  New  World.  Indeed,  so  few  slaves  were  brought  into  Louisiana  by  the 
French  that  its  white  settlers  commonly  blamed  their  economic  woes  on  that  fact  above 
all  others.6 

As  slavery  settled  itself —  albeit  sparsely  —  upon  the  Louisiana  wilderness,  the  question 
of  slave  conduct  and  welfare  emerged  as  a  primary  concern  of  the  French  government, 
Company  officials,  and  the  Catholic  Church.  In  most  cases,  the  white  population 
outnumbered  black  slaves  two  to  one.  On  isolated  farms,  however,  such  as  those  near  the 
Rosalie  outpost,  the  ratio  of  masters  and  slaves  was  often  just  the  reverse.  It  was  in  this 
context  that  the  government  of  French  Louisiana  attempted,  in  1724,  to  systematize 
slave/master  relations  in  its  promulgation  of  the  Code  Noire.  Part  of  this  legal  code  was 
aimed  at  protecting  the  enslaved  from  the  wanton  brutality  of  their  masters.  Provisions 
about  not  working  slaves  on  Sundays,  the  sanctity  of  slave  marriages,  and  the  proper 
burial  of  baptized  slaves  introduced  a  modicum  of  civility  into  an  otherwise  one-sided 
power  relationship.7  But  the  main  thrust  of  the  Code  defined  the  constraints  within  which 
slaves  were  expected  to  live  out  their  lives.  No  slaves  could  carry  weapons  without  written 
permission  of  their  masters,  gather  in  crowds,  partake  of  liquor,  or  act  in  ways  suggestive 
of  a  free  people.  Those  who  broke  the  law  were  subject  to  whippings,  brandings, 
mutilation,  and  death.8 

Although  it  is  impossible  to  determine  precisely  how  the  Code  affected  blacks  in  the 
Natchez  settlement,  it  is  unlikely  that  it  had  much  of  a  moderating  influence.  In  1727,  for 
example,  a  belligerent  slave  in  Natchez  had  his  hands  bound  for  five  hours  while  600 
rawhide  lashes  were  inflicted  upon  him.  After  the  beating,  the  slave's  hands  were  thrust 
into  boiling  water,  causing  the  loss  of  two  of  his  fingers.9  In  another  case,  a  runaway 
slave  from  the  Natchez  area  was  brought  to  court  in  New  Orleans  for  having  assaulted  a 
soldier.  The  unfortunate  slave  was  sentenced  to  be  flogged  every  day  including  Sundays 
in  a  public  place,  to  have  his  right  ear  cut  off,  and  to  carry  a  six-pound  chain  on  his  foot 
for  life.  Other  slaves,  when  found  guilty  of  murdering  whites,  were  publicly  burned  or 
beheaded,  with  their  body  parts  displayed  on  stakes  as  a  gruesome  warning  to  their  fellow 
slaves.10 


6.  de  Bienville  and  de  Salmon  to  Maurepas,  May  12,  1733,  MPA  III;  Howell,  "The  French  Period:  1699-1763," 
McLemore,  (ed.),  Mississippi,  pp.  126-127;  Council  of  Louisiana  to  The  Directors  of  the  Company  of  the  Indies, 
August  28,  1725,  MPA  II;  Minutes  of  the  Council,  March  20,  1725,  MPA  II;  Perier  to  the  Abbe  Raguet,  April 
25,  1727,  MPA  II;  Robert  to  de  Pontchartrain,  November  26,  1708,  MPA  II. 

7.  Oliver  Blanchard,  Regulations,  Edicts,  Declarations  and  Decrees  Concerning  the  Commerce. 
Administration  of  Justice  and  Policing  of  Louisiana  and  other  French  Colonies  in  American,  Together  with  The 
Black  Codes  (New  Orleans,  La.,  1940);  Donald  Edward  Everett,  "Free  Persons  of  Color  in  New  Orleans,  1803- 
1865,"  (Ph.D.  dissertation,  Tulane  University,  1952),  pp.  12-54. 

8.  Ibid. 

9.  See  Claiborne,  Mississippi,  pp.  36-86;  Hall,  Africans  in  Colonial  Louisiana,  p.  149-150 

10.  Ibid. 


Among  all  the  factors  affecting  the  lives  of  African  slaves  in  French  Natchez,  none  were 
of  greater  consequence  than  the  wilderness  character  of  the  settlement.  Natchez  was  not 
only  hopelessly  isolated  in  the  1720s,  it  was  also  surrounded  by  well-established  and 
defiant  Indians.  In  the  years  from  1717  to  1726,  the  Natchez  attacked  the  outpost  in 
several  bloody  raids  staged  in  defense  of  its  lands  and  way  of  life.  The  French  responded 
in  kind  with  violent  reprisals,  eventually  pushing  the  Natchez  into  a  massive  uprising 
wherein  the  entire  white  settlement  at  Fort  Rosalie  was  wiped  out  in  1729.  All  white  men 
save  one  (or  two)  within  the  Rosalie  encampment  were  killed,  and  the  settlement's  women, 
children,  and  several  hundred  African  slaves  were  carried  off  into  captivity.11 

The  French  answered  the  loss  of  their  settlement  by  sending  a  substantial  army  of  slaves, 
soldiers,  Indian  mercenaries,  and  white  planters  against  the  Natchez.  The  fighting  lasted 
for  more  than  a  decade  as  the  French  doggedly  pursued  the  Natchez,  enlisting  the  support 
of  several  neighboring  Indian  tribes  (especially  the  Choctaws  and  the  Arkansas)  as  eager 
as  the  French  to  exterminate  the  once  powerful  sun  worshippers. 

Exactly  what  happened  to  the  captured  African  slaves  is  a  story,  like  much  of  the  story 
of  slavery,  that  is  yet  clouded  in  history.  The  majority  of  them  most  likely  stayed  with  the 
Natchez  as  either  slaves  or  as  adopted  members  of  the  tribe.  Some  of  the  African  captives 
were  undoubtedly  sold  to  the  British  or  to  other  Indians.  Others,  about  fifty  in  number, 
were  recaptured  by  the  French  and  transported  to  New  Orleans  or  to  plantations  below 
Baton  Rouge.  Dozens  more  remained  captives  of  the  French-allied  Choctaws.12 

Although  the  evidence  is  sketchy  at  best,  some  black  slaves  clearly  fought  on  the  side  of 
the  Natchez.  Among  the  terms  for  peace  laid  down  by  the  French  in  1724,  after  a  bloody 
but  unsuccessful  Indian  attack  on  the  Natchez  settlement,  was  the  surrender  of  a  runaway 
black  slave  believed  by  the  French  to  have  encouraged  the  uprising.  In  the  Natchez  attack 
on  the  French  settlement  in  1729,  there  is  sound  evidence  to  contend  that  a  large  number 
of  the  African  slaves  joined  in  the  attack  on  their  European  masters.13  So  frequently, 
moreover,  did  Indian  slaves  assist  their  black  workmates  in  running  away,  that  one 
government  official  recommended  abolishing  Indian  slavery  as  the  only  sure  way  of 
preventing  such  Red/Black  alliances.  It  would  be  misleading,  however,  to  make  too  much 
of  these  isolated  examples  without  further  evidence.  In  the  main,  district  Indians  killed 


11.  From  Father  Philibert,  "Register  of  the  Persons  of  the  Post  of  the  Natchez  who  were  massacred  on  the 
28th  of  November,  1729,  by  the  Neighboring  Indians  Whose  Name  the  Said  Post  Bears,"  June  9,  1730,  MPA 
I;  Diron  d'Artaguette  to  Maurepas,  February  9,  1730,  March  18,  1730,  MPA  I;  Perier  to  Maurepas,  December 
5,  1729,  MPA  I.  See  also  John  A.  Green,  "Governor  Perier's  Expedition  against  the  Natchez  Indians," 
Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly  (1936),  XIX,,  547-77. 

12.  Diron  d'Artaguette  to  Maurepas,  March  20,  1730,  MPA  I;  King  to  de  Bienville,  September  2,  1732,  MPA 
III;  Lusser  to  Maurepas,  March  23.  1730,  MPA  I.  Path-breaking  scholarship  by  Gwendolyn  Hall  has  added 
much  information  to  our  history  of  the  Natchez  area  enslaved.  See  her  study  on  Africans  in  Colonial 
Ix)uisiana,  pp.  102-106. 

13.  Minutes  of  the  Council  of  War,  November  23,  1723,  MPA  III.  See  especially  Hall,  Africans  in  Colonial 
Louisiana,  pp.  102-104  and  also  the  following  quote  from  a  manuscript  journal,  February  24,  1730,  in 
Claiborne.  Mississippi,  pp.  46-47:  "In  the  morning  wc  dismantled  our  batteries  and  the  captives  were 
delivered.  Recognizing  among  the  negroes  three  that  had  united  with  the  Natchez  in  the  night  attack  on  the 
22d,  I  ordered  them  to  be  tied.  Two  were  seized,  but  as  we  were  in  the  act  of  blinding  the  third  one,  he  placed 
a  knife  between  his  teeth  and  leaped  into  the  river,  when  he  was  shot." 


black  slaves  almost  as  often  as  they  killed  whites;  and  it  was  not  uncommon  for  Indians 
to  operate  as  slavecatchers,  bringing  in  runaway  slaves  for  the  bounty.14 

The  French  continued  to  station  a  small  garrison  of  troops  at  Fort  Rosalie  for  a  number 
of  years  after  the  1729  uprising  —  including  eight  or  nine  black  slaves  who  worked  at 
shoring  up  the  fort's  earthen  walls,  but  few  French  settlers  thereafter  risked  their  lives 
or  chattel  property  in  the  once  thriving  settlement.  Indeed,  in  the  years  after  1730,  Fort 
Rosalie  reverted  to  an  outpost  surrounded  by  a  wilderness  more  desolate  of  human  life 
than  at  any  time  in  the  preceding  thousand  years  when  the  area  was  first  settled  by  the 
Natchez  Indians.15 


Plagued  by  military  setbacks  all  over  the  world,  the  French  withdrew  from  Louisiana  in 
the  1760s,  giving  their  holdings  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  to  Great  Britain  and  those 
west  of  the  River  to  Spain,  except  for  the  New  Orleans  area.  The  British,  desiring  to 
populate  the  stretch  of  land  along  the  Mississippi  River  from  just  above  Baton  Rouge  to 
the  so-called  Walnut  Hills  encampment  located  ten  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo 
River,  granted  generous  plots  of  land  to  veterans  of  the  French  and  Indian  Wars.  Dozens 
of  white  settlers,  coming  in  the  main  from  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  the  Carolinas,  moved 
to  the  Natchez  district  and  planted  self-sufficient  settlements  in  and  around  the  newly 
outfitted  Fort  Rosalie  —  now  renamed  Fort  Panmure.16  (See  ILLUSTRATION  C) 

The  pattern  of  settlement  in  British  Natchez  had  important  consequences  for  its  black 
participants.  In  the  first  place,  the  land  concessions  were  frequently  giant  allotments 
ranging  from  5,000  to  25,000  acres,  grants  of  land  far  too  large  to  be  cultivated  as  small 
family  farms.  To  be  sure,  many  of  the  original  holders  quickly  disposed  of  their  grants  to 
incoming  settlers,  as  was  the  case  with  Capt.  Amos  Ogden  who  sold  19,000  acres  to 
Richard  and  Samuel  Swayze  of  New  Jersey  in  1772.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  in 
view  of  their  eagerness  to  obtain  slaves,  that  the  majority  of  newcomers  to  the  area  had 
their  minds  set  on  establishing  plantations  to  be  worked  by  gangs  of  slave  laborers.17 

Regardless  of  their  ambitions,  few  British  slave  masters  arrived  with  a  large  work  force 
in  hand.  The  typical  party  of  slaves  brought  into  the  district  was  always  small  in  number, 
usually  about  three  or  four  slaves  to  each  migrating,  white  family.  What  the  incipient 


14.  Regis  du  Roulletto  Maurepas,  March  (?),  Abstract  of  Journal:    1729-1733,  MPA  I. 

15.  Claiborne,  Mississippi,  pp.  87-101;  de  Bienville  and  de  Salmon  to  Maurepas,  April  1,  1734,  MPA  III;  Jack 
D.  Elliott,  Jr.,  "The  Fort  of  Natchez  and  the  Colonial  Origins  of  Mississippi,"  The  Journal  of  Mississippi 
History  LII  (August,  1990),  pp.  159-198.  It  is  estimated  that  the  French  kept  a  garrison  of  about  fifty  men  at 
the  fort  until  1763;  various  Indians  also  lived  at  the  fort  as  provisioners,  scouts,  and  mercenaries.  These 
Indians  included  the  Tunicas,  the  Arkansas,  and  a  few  of  the  Ofogoula  tribe;  but  the  once  rich  Indian 
environment  of  pre-European  Natchez  existed  no  more  after  1731. 

16.  Jack  D.L.  Holmes,  "A  Spanish  Province:  1779-1798,"  McLemore,  (ed.),  Mississippi, pp.  158-173;  Byrle  A. 
Kynerd,  "British  West  Florida,,"  McLemore,  (ed.),  Mississippi,  pp.  134-157. 

17.  Claiborne,  Mississippi,  pp.  106-107; 


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planters  needed,  of  course,  was  ample  credit  for  the  purchase  of  enough  slaves  to  work  the 
substantial  lands  handed  out  in  the  British  concessions.  Such  credits,  in  turn,  required  a 
cash  earning  crop.18 

For  the  most  part,  Natchez  under  the  British  achieved  neither  the  crops  nor  markets  to 
support  a  self-sustaining  plantation  labor  force.  European  markets  for  Natchez  lumber, 
tobacco,  and  indigo  were  all  but  ruled  out  due  to  Spanish  control  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi  River.  Put  simply,  the  Spanish  did  not  want  British  tobacco  competing  with 
the  crops  of  their  island  plantations.  Nor  was  there  much  of  a  market  at  New  Orleans  for 
Natchez  corn,  pork,  and  beef  in  view  of  the  Ohio  and  Kentucky  foodstuffs  that  poured 
down  the  Mississippi  River.  As  a  result,  slaves  in  the  Natchez  area  in  the  1770s  were 
principally  self-sufficient  workers  laboring  in  a  crude  and  wild  frontier  environment.19 

Exactly  what  life  was  like  for  the  slaves  of  Natchez  under  British  rule  is  difficult  to  say. 
It  is  doubtful,  however,  that  many  Natchez  blacks  were  worked  to  death,  as  was  so  often 
the  case  in  the  more  market  oriented  sugar  islands.  On  the  other  hand,  the  British- 
Spanish-American  wars  of  empire  and  independence,  exposed  Natchez  slaves  to  the  terror 
of  being  treated  as  a  contraband  of  war,  mere  property  subject  to  the  plundering  exploits 
of  the  various  warring  factions. 

When  the  American  colonies  revolted  against  Britain,  the  Spanish  in  New  Orleans 
unofficially  supported  American  efforts  at  weakening  British  control  of  West  Florida.  In 
the  spring  of  1778,  a  band  of  Americans  led  by  James  Willing  raided  Natchez,  carrying  off 
numerous  slaves  and  generally  terrorizing  the  settlement.  Natchez  area  slaveowners, 
fearful  for  their  property,  frantically  marched  their  slaves  from  one  swamp  haven  and 
hiding  place  to  another.  Spain  eventually  entered  the  war  on  the  side  of  the  Americans, 
conquering  Natchez  and  defeating  the  British  in  a  series  of  brilliant  maneuvers  in  the  Gulf 
and  at  Baton  Rouge.  But  peace  did  not  come  easily  to  the  district.  In  April  of  1781,  several 
prominent  Natchez  slaveholders  rose  in  rebellion  against  their  Spanish  conquerors  only 
to  be  crushed  —  their  slaves  confiscated  as  war  contraband  and  sold  to  Spanish  loyalists. 
Clearly,  the  unsettled  1780s  was  a  time  of  turmoil  for  the  enslaved  of  Natchez,  caught  up 
as  they  were  in  the  warfare  of  their  masters.20 


18.  Ibid.,  pp.  103-115;  Jack  D.  Holmes,  "Indigo  in  Colonial  Louisiana  and  the  Floridas,"  Louisiana  History 
VIII  (1967),  pp.  329-349. 

19.  C.N.  Howard,  "Colonial  Natchez:  The  Early  British  Period,"  Journal  of  Mississippi  History  VTI  (1945); 
Anna  Lewis,  (ed.),  "Fort  Panmure,  1779,  as  Related  by  Juan  Delavillebeuvre  to  Bernardo  de  Galvez," 
Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Review  XVIII  (1931-32),  pp.  541-548. 

20.  Kathryn  T.  Abbey,  "Peter  Chester's  Defense  of  the  Mississippi  After  the  Willing  Raid,  "Mississippi  Valley 
Historical  Review  XXII  (1935),  pp.  17-32;  John  W.  Caughey,  "The  Natchez  Rebellion  of  1781  and  Its 
Aftermath,,"  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly  XVI  (1933),  pp.  57-83;  John  W.  Caughey,  "Willing's  Expedition 
Down  the  Mississippi,  1778,"  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly  XV  (1932),  pp.  5-36;  Margaret  F.  Dalrymple,  The 
Merchant  ofManchac:  The  Letter  books  of  John  Fitzpatrick,  1768-1790.  (Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1978);  Robert  V. 
Haynes,  The  Natchez  District  and  the  American  Revolution  (Jackson,  Miss.,  1976);  Robert  B.  Haynes,  "James 
Willing  and  the  Planters  of  Natchez:  The  American  Revolution  Comes  to  the  Southwest,"  Journal  of 
Mississippi  History  XXXVII  (1975),  pp.  1-40;  Kenneth  Scott,  (ed.),  "Britain  Loses  Natchez,  1779:  An 
Unpublished  Letter,"  Journal  of  Mississippi  History  XXVI  (1964),  pp.  45-46;  Wilbur  H.  Siebert,  "The  Loyalists 
in  West  Florida  and  the  Natchez  District,"  Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Review  II  (1930),  pp.  553-609. 

9 


Once  the  fighting  stopped,  however,  the  Spanish  conquest  of  Natchez  brought  a  measure 
of  stability  to  the  district.  Briefly  told,  the  Spanish  embarked  on  a  bold  program  aimed  at 
filling  up  the  Mississippi  River  Valley  with  American  and  British  settlers  loyal  to  Spain. 
Four  features  of  the  plan  dominated  the  period  of  Spanish  rule:  guaranteed  markets  in 
Mexico  for  subsidized  Natchez  tobacco,  generous  grants  of  land  to  Spanish  loyalists 
regardless  of  their  nationality,  free  access  to  the  port  of  New  Orleans,  and  encouragement 
of  a  trade  in  slaves  by  opening  the  Natchez  market  to  credit  granting  Jamaican,  French, 
and  British  traders.  In  view  of  Spanish  policy,  there  was  little  opportunity  for  the 
emergence  of  a  small,  family  farm  economy  in  the  Natchez  region.  Instead,  planter-minded 
settlers  rushed  into  the  Natchez  district  eager  to  buy  slaves  and  plant  tobacco.21 

A  census  of  Natchez  taken  in  1787,  reveals  the  character  of  the  slave  settlement  won  by 
the  Spanish:  1275  whites,  22  mulattoes,  and  675  blacks  lived  in  eight  distinct  locations  in 
and  around  the  old  fort  at  Natchez.  (See  ILLUSTRATION  D)  Within  the  next  few  years 
the  number  rose  to  more  than  5300  people,  including  approximately  1000  slaves. 

Who  were  these  black  men  and  women  and  what  did  their  lives  entail?  To  begin  with, 
relatively  few  Natchez  slaves  lived  on  what  would  become  the  standard  definition  of  a 
plantation  —  a  farm  with  a  minimum  of  twenty  slaves.  Economic  historian  John  G.  Clark 
has  estimated  that  more  than  60  percent  of  the  white  families  in  Natchez  owned  no  slaves 
at  all  in  1789,  and  that  only  four  or  five  of  the  263  planter/farmers  in  the  district  owned 
twenty  or  more  slaves.  The  vast  majority  of  white  slave  masters  probably  owned  but  one 
or  two.  This  means  that  the  typical  black  person  in  Natchez  most  likely  worked  alongside 
a  white  master  through  much  of  the  1780s  and  1790s.22 

Fortunately,  Spanish  court  records  provide  a  good  supplement  to  the  extant  census  data 
on  the  character  of  slavery  in  Natchez  during  the  last  decades  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
Among  other  things,  the  court  materials  document  slave  sales  in  the  neighborhood,  of' 
which  more  than  800  individual  transactions  were  identified  for  analysis.  The  large 
majority  of  these  sales  involved  single  transactions  rather  than  group  sales  of  even  two 
or  three  people.  Approximately  20  percent  were  children.  All  but  2  percent  of  the  adults 
were  men  and  women  between  the  ages  of  13  to  30  years.  Very  few  slave  families  were 
purchased,  and  only  a  few  men  and  women  were  sold  as  couples.  A  substantial  number 


21.  Jack  D.L.  Holmes.  Gayoso:  The  Life  of  a  Spanish  Governor  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  1789-199  (Baton 
Rouge.  1965);  D.  Clayton  James.  Antebellum  Natchez,  pp.  30-76;  John  Hebron  Moore,  The  Emergence  of  the 
Cotton  Kingdom  in  the  Old  Southwest  (Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1988). 

Claiborne.  Mississippi,  pp.  136-161;  Clark,  New  Orleans,  pp.  190-191;  Carroll  Ainsworth  McElligott,  "1787 
Census  of  Natchez."  unpublished  manuscript,  Historic  Natchez  Foundation.  Natchez,  Mississippi.  It  is 
probable  that  the  typical  black  slave  in  the  Natchez  area  worked  in  herding  and  butchering  of  cattle  and  swine 
but  principally  as  the  clearers  of  the  land  and  the  cultivators  of  tobacco  and  corn  in  the  1780s  and  early  1790s. 
Although  there  was  little  market  for  Natchez  beef  in  New  Orleans,  the  substantial  numbers  of  half-wild  cattle 
recorded  in  the  census  were  raised  and  slaughtered  for  their  hides.  The  census  of  1787  lists  1.824  cattle.  6.374 
horses,  and  9.888  hogs  in  the  district.  On  Anthony  Hutchins  plantation,  one  of  the  largest  in  the  district  in 
t  he  Spanish-era.  thirty-one  slaves  of  all  age  groups  tended  400  cattle.  30  horses,  and  200  hogs  while  cultivating 
30.000  pounds  of  tobacco  and  4.000  bushels  of  corn. 

10 


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11 


of    children     (sixty-three)    changed     hands    in    transactions  not  involving  any  adult 
slaves.23 


Table  1:   Slave  Sales  in  Natchez:  The  Spanish  Period 


Sales 

1780-1787 

1788-1790 

1791-1796 

Origins 

Number 

* 

Number 

% 

Number             % 

Africa 

87 

47 

160 

56 

113                  43 

Caribbean 

19 

11 

18 

6 

11                    4 

America 

17 

9 

36 

12 

63                  24 

Unknown 

60 

30 

43 

25 

70                  27 

Source:  Spanish  Records  of  the  Natchez  District.  Percentages  do  not  equal  100  due  to  rounding  off. 
See  Footnote  #23 


The  typical  slave  sold  by  traders,  according  to  the  information  in  Table  1,  was  a  young 
man  or  woman  newly  arrived  from  Africa.  Slave  traders  differentiated  between  slaves  by 
listing  their  places  of  birth  —  Guinea,  Jamaica,  Virginia,  etc.,  or  by  describing  them  as 
"brute  negroes"  in  contrast  to  those  already  "seasoned,"  meaning  those  slaves  who  had 
already  worked  elsewhere  in  the  New  World.24 

In  some  cases,  cargoes  of  African-born  and  Caribbean  slaves  were  transported  by  ocean 
sailing  ships  directly  to  Natchez.  Natchez  planter  and  slave  merchant  Daniel  Clark,  in 
partnership  with  the  Spanish  Governor  of  Pensacola,  brought  eighty-three  slaves  to 
Natchez  via  the  schooner  Governor  Miro  (named  for  the  Spanish  governor  of  Louisiana) 
in  1791.  The  image  here  is  of  the  slave  ship  Miro  sailing  to  Natchez  from  Jamaica  on  a 
voyage  in  which  the  slaves  literally  pulled  the  vessel  upstream  with  heavy  ropes  whenever 
the  winds  failed  or  the  currents  were  too  strong  for  navigation.  Once  in  Natchez,  Clark 
sold  the  slaves  to  thirty-seven  residents,  including  four  slaves  to  Spanish  officials  Don 
Manuel  Gayoso  (Governor  of  Natchez)  and  Don  Carlos  de  Grand-Pre.25 

The  vast  majority  of  the  African  and  Caribbean  slaves  sold  in  Natchez  were  probably 
transported  to  the  settlement  in  small  boats  or  pirogues.  Planter  William  Dunbar 
frequently  traveled  to  New  Orleans,  purchased  African  slaves  from  cargoes  in  from 


23.  Spanish  Court  Records  of  the  Natchez  District,  A-G  (1777-1802),  Natchez  Chancery  Clerk"s  Office,  Adams 
County.  Mississippi;  Transcript  of  Original  Spanish  Court  Records,  Books  1-11  (1777-1802),  Adams  County, 
Natchez  Chancery  Clerk's  Office,  Adams  County,  Mississippi;  see  also  Mary  W.  McBee,  The  Natchez  Court 
Records.  1767-1805:   Abstracts  of  Early  Records.  2  vols  (Ann  Arbor,  Mich.,  19531. 

24.  Ibid. 

25.  Book  B.  May  20.  1791.  Spanish  Court  Records,  p.  502. 

12 


Jamaica,  and  outfitted  small  canoes  to  carry  the  slaves  upriver  to  Baton  Rouge  from  where 
they  were  marched  overland  in  chained  coffles  to  Natchez.  Other  Africans  came  to  Natchez 
by  way  of  Mobile,  Biloxi,  and  Pensacola.  British  slavers  landed  cargoes  in  these  gulf  ports 
for  transport  in  smaller  vessels  along  the  coast  to  Lake  Pontchartrain  and  up  the  Amite 
River  to  points  within  walking  distance  of  Natchez.26 

In  general,  there  were  five  major  routes  used  in  transporting  slaves  to  Natchez  in  the 
Spanish  period:  (1)  by  water  down  the  Tennessee,  Ohio,  and  Mississippi  rivers;  (2) 
overland  by  way  of  an  Indian  route  later  to  be  known  as  the  Natchez  Trace;  (3)  across  the 
interior  from  Georgia  by  way  of  the  Three  Chopped  Trail;  (4)  upriver  by  water  from  New 
Orleans,  with  originating  cargos  from  Africa  and  the  Caribbean;  and  (5)  along  the  coast 
from  Mobile  and  Lake  Pontchartrain  to  the  Amite  River.  Although  it  is  uncertain  just  how 
many  American-born  slaves  from  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  the  Carolinas  arrived  in 
Natchez  via  the  coastal  trail  (the  old  route  of  the  Conquistadors),  there  is  some  evidence 
that  planters  found  it  more  convenient  than  the  interior  routes.  (See  ILLUSTRATION  E) 

All  the  slave  routes  to  Natchez  entailed  deadly  voyages  in  which  only  the  strong  survived. 
The  land  trails,  for  example,  were  little  more  than  animal  paths  with  no  clear  markers 
along  the  way.  It  could  take  from  two  to  five  months  to  travel  from  settlements  in  Georgia 
or  Kentucky  to  Natchez,  and  travelers  who  lost  their  bearings  (or  else  escaped  into  the 
wilderness)  were  most  likely  never  heard  from  again.  The  river  and  ocean  voyages  were 
little  better.  Their  history  is  the  story  of  boat  sinkings,  Indian  attacks,  and  death-dealing 
sickness  suffered  by  countless  slaves  on  the  ocean  crossings  from  the  Caribbean  islands 
to  the  mainland  (eleven  hundred  miles).27 

Because  the  voyages  to  Natchez  were  so  terribly  arduous,  incoming  Africans,  Jamaicans, 
and  Carolinian  blacks  viewed  the  settlement  (at  its  first  sighting)  with  a  profound  sense 
of  relief,  both  because  the  terrible  voyage  had  ended  and  because  of  the  opportunity  for 
escape.  Such  was  clearly  in  the  mind  of  an  enslaved  African  nobleman  brought  to  Natchez 
from  Guinea  in  1789.  Abd  Rahman  Ibrahima,  better  known  as  Prince,  hit  the  land  running 
almost  the  moment  he  arrived  in  Natchez.  After  two  weeks  in  the  swamps,  however,  the 
proud  warrior  returned  to  the  settlement  to  lay  himself  at  the  feet  of  his  white  mistress 
in  a  gesture  of  physical  submission.  Thereafter  the  slave  prince  conducted  himself  in  the 
manner  of  a  proud  but  enslaved  nobleman,  resigned  to  his  physical  fate  though  somehow 
undaunted  in  spirit.28 

Once  settled  in  and  properly  "seasoned,"  Natchez  slaves  had  to  face  a  crucial  fact  of  life: 
they  were,  without  exception,  mere  property  in  the  eyes  of  the  law.  What  this  meant  is 
that  no  slaveowners  were  compelled  to  observe  any  meaningful  (moral  or  legal)  limitations 
on  how  they  handled  their  chattel.  To  illustrate  the  point,  it  is  helpful  to  examine  again 


26.  William  Dunbar  to  Diana  Dunbar,  March  13,  1794,  William  Dunbar  Papers,  Mississippi  Department  of 
Archives  and  History,  Jackson;  see  also  Memorandum  book  of  John  Bisland,  1783-1799,  John  Bisland  Papers, 
Department  of  Archives,  Louisiana  State   University,  Baton  Rouge. 

27.  Spanish  Court  Records,  A  thru  G. 

28.  Terry  Alford,  Prince  Among  Slaves:  The  True  Story  Of  An  African  Prince  Sold  Into  Slavery  In  The 
American  South  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1977). 

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14 


those  sixty-three  children  and  young  people  who  were  sold  individually  and  apart  from  any 
adult  parents  or  relatives.  Most  were  youngsters  8  to  12  years  of  age.  One  slave  trader  in 
the  area,  Charles  Proffit  of  Baton  Rouge,  seems  to  have  specialized  in  children.  Proffit  sold 
"Patty,"  age  9,  to  William  Ratcliff,  and  another  girl,  age  10,  both  recently  from  Guinea,  to 
Edward  McCabe  on  May  22,  1789.  Two  days  later  he  sold  three  African  boys  and  one  girl 
(ages  10  to  12).  On  June  21,  he  delivered  a  "negro  lad"  (age  12)  to  a  Natchez  merchant  and 
two  African  boys  and  one  girl  (ages  12  and  13),  on  June  22,  to  planter  Moses  Bonner.29 

Perhaps  the  above  children  were  the  orphans  of  parents  who  had  died  on  the  voyage  to 
Natchez,  but  there  is  no  evidence  in  the  records  to  suggest  such  a  conclusion.  Indeed,  the 
documents  tend  to  support  the  idea  that  they  were  not  orphans  at  all.  In  August  1795, 
Lestitia  Culberson  petitioned  the  court  to  sell  a  sickly  seven-year-old  boy  who  had  been 
left  to  Culberson's  young  daughter.  Culberson  wished  to  sell  the  lad  "Tony"  in  order  to 
"purchase  something  else  not  liable  to  the  same  risk."  The  court  in  agreeing  to  the  sale 
merely  noted  that  the  boy's  mother  was  also  owned  by  Culberson's  daughter.  Nor  did  the 
court  offer  any  objections  when  planter  James  Cole  sold  a  young  boy,  whom  he  had  raised 
in  his  own  family,  to  a  local  saddler.30 

If  slave  children  enjoyed  little  protection  in  the  Spanish-era,  adult  slaves  had  even  less. 
The  case  of  Nehemiah  Albertson  and  his  slave,  Hector,  is  illustrative  of  what  was 
undoubtedly  a  common  experience.  In  1783,  Albertson  entered  into  an  agreement  with  a 
local  merchant,  St.  Germain,  to  plant  tobacco  on  land  owned  by  St.  Germain.  Albertson 
agreed  (according  to  contracts  filed  in  the  Spanish  Court  at  Natchez)  to  furnish  four  work 
horses,  five  blacks,  and  the  needed  plantation  tools  for  making  the  crops.  St.  Germain,  for 
his  part,  would  provide  three  blacks,  two  whites,  and  one  hundred  bushels  of  corn.  The 
expense  of  five  sows  and  a  boar  were  to  be  shared  equally. 

Work  proceeded  smoothly  at  first  with  a  labor  force  of  two  white  "hirelings,"  one  Indian, 
a  free  black,  two  slaves  owned  by  St.  Germain,  the  slave  man  Hector,  and  another  slave 
named  Carlos,  purchased  from  a  "half-breed"  Indian.  Late  in  the  summer,  however,  work 
on  the  plantation  came  to  an  abrupt  halt  with  the  death  of  Albertson.  The  slaves  Hector 
and  Carlos  were  sold  to  settle  Albertson's  debts  to  St.  Germain  and  other  creditors, 
including  the  "half-breed"  slave  trader.31 

Although  slaves  were  mere  property  legally  speaking,  the  wilderness  character  of  Spanish 
Natchez  greatly  diluted  and  shaped  the  slave/master  relationship.  For  one  thing,  danger 
lurked  almost  everywhere.  In  1783,  the  Spanish  Commandant  at  Natchez  ordered  all  its 
district  inhabitants  fit  for  duty  to  unite  in  squads  of  twenty  men  for  the  purpose  of 
capturing  a  band  of  robbers  plundering  the  area.  Included  among  the  cutthroats  to  be 


29.  Book  B,  May  22,  1789,  Spanish  Court  Records,  p.  260;  p.  261;  May  25,  1789,  p.  263;  June  21,  1789,  p.  298; 
June  22,  1789,  p.  299. 

30.  Ibid.,  Book  C,  August  24,  1795. 

31.  Ibid.,  Book  Eight,  December  11,  1783,  pp.  137-154. 

15 


brought  to  justice  was  at  least  one  black  man.  Dozens  of  similar  examples  from  the  court 
records  attest  to  the  volatile  nature  of  the  place.32 

Beset  by  violence  on  all  sides,  unprotected  by  law  or  family,  and  subject  to  the  vicissitudes 
of  a  market  in  which  they  were  bought,  sold,  mortgaged,  and  exchanged  as  little  more 
than  cattle,  the  African-American  inhabitants  of  colonial  Natchez  must  have  experienced 
a  life  tantamount  to  that  of  a  living  hell.  And  the  dimensions  of  that  hell  were 
psychological  as  well  as  physical.  To  take  one  minor  example  of  the  changes  with  which 
the  enslaved  were  forced  to  contend,  of  the  hundreds  of  slave  sales  recorded  in  the  Spanish 
court  documents  the  names  most  frequently  listed  are  English  rather  than  African.  The 
most  common  names  for  men  were  Dick,  Jack,  John,  Peter,  William,  James,  and  Sam. 
Among  the  women,  Maria,  Catherine,  Anna,  and  Nancy  topped  the  list.  Other  names 
commonly  cited  were  Joseph,  Lucy,  Ned,  Jenny,  Thomas,  Kitty,  Anthony,  Charlotte,  Paul, 
Kate,  Bob  and  Sally. 

Typically  Anglo  names  in  the  main,  the  listing  tells  us  much  about  the  impersonalization 
and  deculturalization  of  slavery  as  a  process  of  alienation  and  psychological  disfigurement. 
What  is  more,  among  the  names  in  the  records  were  those  that  heaped  ridicule  upon  the 
enslaved  in  a  process  wherein  humiliation  was  used  as  a  means  of  social  control.  Names 
like  Pharaoh,  Caesar,  Azor,  Prince,  Fortune,  Coffee,  Neptune,  Ranger,  Romeo,  Dunce, 
January,  Dublin,  Jamaica  Sam,  Swift,  Hamlet,  Blizzard,  Coco,  Sampson,  and  Jupiter  were 
especially  favored  by  the  slave  masters. 

There  is  no  way  of  knowing  to  what  extent  the  enslaved  of  colonial  Natchez  accepted  the 
names  given  them  by  their  white  masters.  Common  sense  would  suggest  that  the  slaves 
probably  had  double  names  —  African  and  Anglo.  For  one  thing,  the  typical  slave  lived  in 
a  small  household  with  but  one  or  two  other  slaves,  allowing  thereby  the  retention  of 
African  names  at  least  informally.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  not  unlikely  to  find  newly 
arrived  slaves  from  Africa  living  and  working  alongside  slaves  native  to  Jamaica  and  the 
upper  South.  Among  the  court  records  are  citations  often  African  locations  —  including 
seven  distinct  nations  or  tribes,  twelve  American  states,  and  nine  Caribbean  islands  as  the 
birthplaces  of  Natchez  slaves.  African-American  slaves  from  Guinea  lived  alongside 
African-Americans  from  the  Ivory  Coast,  Biafra,  the  Congo  region,  the  Windward  Coastal 
areas,  and  Senegambia  as  well  as  second  generation  African-American-Virginians,  native 
Jamaican  slaves,  and  Louisiana  Creoles.  Given  the  ethnic  diversity  of  the  Natchez 
enslaved,  their  acceptance  of  Anglo  names  was  probably  unavoidable.33 


The  Spanish-era  ended  in  1795  when  Spain  transferred  the  Natchez  district  (above  the 
.'51st  parallel)  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  to  the  United  States  in  the  Treaty  of  San 
Lorenzo.  A  few  years  later,  the  vast  region  west  of  Natchez  was  included  in  the  Louisiana 
Purchase.  But  of  more  immediate  consequence  to  Natchez  blacks  were  the  economic  winds 


32.  Ibid.,  Book  Eleven.  August  12.  1786.  pp.  381-438. 

33.  Spanish  Court  Records.  A  thru  G. 

16 


that  swept  over  the  district  in  the  last  years  of  Spanish  rule.  Almost  overnight,  black 
people  in  the  district  were  caught  up  in  the  cultivation  of  a  new  crop  —  cotton  —  that 
fastened  them  within  the  grip  of  a  plantation  economy  that  not  even  the  Civil  War  would 
fully  loosen.34 

Toward  the  end  of  the  Spanish-era,  Spain  abruptly  ended  all  subsidies  for  Natchez 
tobacco.  Almost  immediately,  economic  depression  engulfed  the  region.  Planters 
desperately  searched  for  a  substitute  crop  in  indigo  and  grain,  but  to  no  avail.  Just  when 
all  looked  hopeless,  several  Natchez  planters  experimented  with  a  technological  innovation 
(modeled  on  Eli  Whitney's  cotton  gin)  capable  of  separating  the  seed  from  short  staple 
cotton  far  more  efficiently  than  could  be  done  by  the  traditional  method  of  hand  combing. 
The  new  ginning  device  —  which  a  local  slave  mechanic  had  a  hand  in  perfecting  — 
wrought  a  revolution  upon  the  land;  and  slavery  in  Natchez  became  an  highly  profitable 
enterprise  linked  to  the  production  of  an  internationally  valued  staple  crop.  For  blacks  in 
Natchez,  a  relatively  simple  piece  of  farm  machinery  profoundly  affected  every  aspect  of 
their  lives.35 

With  the  development  of  the  cotton  gin,  the  trickle  of  slaves  coming  into  the  neighborhood 
became  a  cascade.  By  1810,  more  than  8000  slaves  lived  in  Adams  County,  the  political 
district  of  closest  proximity  to  the  original  settlement  around  Fort  Rosalie.  That  number 
increased  to  14,292  on  the  eve  of  the  Civil  War.  Across  the  river  in  Louisiana,  the  labor 
of  tens  of  thousands  of  slaves  transformed  snake  infested  swamplands  into  a  flood  plain 
of  large  plantations  stretching  from  the  sugar  fields  around  Baton  Rouge  to  the  cotton 
districts  upriver  and  across  from  Vicksburg.  Table  2  indicates  just  how  completely  the  old 
Natchez  district  had  become  a  slave-populated,  plantation  economy.36 

In  the  ensuing  antebellum  years,  Natchez  district  slaves  worked,  in  the  main,  on  large 
plantations  that  specialized  in  the  production  of  cotton.  They  also  grew  other  crops  such 
as  corn,  peas,  potatoes,  and  hay,  but  not  as  cash  crops  or  as  substitutes  for  cotton.  The 
essential  purpose  of  slavery  in  the  region  was  a  simple  one  from  which  few  slave  masters 
deviated  in  the  first  sixty  years  of  the  nineteenth  century:  to  grow  cotton,  in  order  to  buy 
slaves,  in  order  to  buy  land,  in  order  to  grow  more  cotton  and  buy  more  slaves  and  more 
land.  In  the  process  nearly  every  inch  of  land  in  Adams  County  had  been  taken  up  as 
plantations  by  1840.  And  because  the  loosely  packed  soil  of  the  Adams  County  highlands 
eroded  easily,  planters  took  to  the  river  parishes  in  Louisiana  with  an  energy  that  knew 
few  bounds.37 


34.  Moore,  The  Emergence  of  the  Cotton  Kingdom  in  the  Old  Southwest,  pp.  1-18. 

35.  Charles  S.  Sydnor,  A  Gentleman  of  the  Old  Natchez  Region:  Benjamin  L.C.  Wailes  (Westport,  Ct.,  1970). 

36.  Robert  Dabney  Calhoun,  "A  History  of  Concordia  Parish,  Louisiana,"  Louisiana  History  Quarterly  XV 
(1932),  pp.  44-67;  pp.  214-233;  pp.  428-452;  pp.  618-645;  XVI  (1933),  pp.  929-124;  B.L.C.  Wailes,  Report  on  the 
Agriculture  and  Geology  of  Mississippi  Embracing  a  Sketch  of  the  Social  and  Natural  History  of  the  State 
(Jackson,  Miss.,  1854),  pp.  1-123 

37.  Ronald  L.F.  Davis,  Good  and  Faithful  Labor:  From  Slavery  to  Sharecropping  in  the  Natchez  District, 
1860-1890  (Westport,  Conn.,  1982),  pp.  24-57. 

17 


Most  slaves  in  Adams  County  lived  on  plantations  of  fifty  or  more  slaves;  those  across  the 
river  in  the  more  fertile  parishes  of  Louisiana  lived  on  even  larger  places,  plantations 
ranging  up  to  two  hundred  slaves  each.  Accordingly,  the  Louisiana  plantations  resembled 
agricultural  factories,  relatively  bare-boned  with  few  appurtenances  beyond  an  overseer's 
house,  slave  cabins,  a  gin  shed,  and  barns.  In  Adams  County,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
typical  plantation  was  more  of  a  plantation  estate,  characterized  by  a  mansion  residence 
as  well  as  appropriate  estate  dependency  buildings  housing  those  slaves  needed  as 
domestic  retainers  and  groundspeople.3 


Table  2:   Mississippi  River  Counties  and  Parishes 
Slave  and  Free  Populations 


Mississippi 

Slave 

White 

Warren 

13,763 

6,896 

Claiborne 

15,722 

3,339 

Jefferson 

12,306 

3,339 

Adams 

14,292 

5,618 

Wilkinson 

13,132 

2,799 

Louisiana 

Slave 

White 

Carrol 

13,908 

4,124 

Madison 

7,353 

1,640 

Tensas 

14,592 

1,479 

Concordia 

12,542 

1,242 

W.  Feliciana 

9,571 

2,036 

Source:  Eighth  Census  of  the  U.S.:  (1860)  Population 


The  town  of  Natchez,  containing  more  than  2,100  slaves  out  of  a  total  population  of  around 
6,612  people  in  1860,  depended  on  the  district's  plantation  economy  and  society  for  its 
existence.  It  was  a  river  town  that  had  long  functioned  as  a  stopping  point  for  western 
farmers  and  adventurers  moving  cargoes  and  boats  to  New  Orleans.  In  that  capacity,  the 
town  had  earned  a  notorious  reputation  as  a  point  of  rendezvous  well  beyond  the  law.  Its 
riverboat  landing,  known  as  Natchez  Under-the-Hiil,  serviced  the  river  adventurers  with 
drink,  prostitutes,  and  gambling.39 

The  town  proper  began  some  two  hundred  feet  above  the  landing  atop  a  bluff  that 
protected  its  residents  from  high  waters  and  low  morals.  Unlike  Natchez  Under-the-Hill, 
upper-Natchez  functioned  as  a  kind  of  service  center  for  the  plantation  community  of  its 
immediate  hinterland.  Indeed,  there  were  three  distinct  towns  in  the  antebellum  era: 
Natchez  Under-the-Hill,  which  serviced  the  river  trade;  uptown  Natchez,  filled  with  shops 
and    churches    and    middle-class   business   establishments;    and    outlying   Natchez,    a 


38.  Ibid. 

39.  Joseph  Holt  Ingraham,  The  South  West:  By  a  Yankee.  (New  York.  N.Y.,  1935\  II,  pp.  18-190;  Edith  Wyatt 
Moore,  Natchez  Vndcr-The-Hill.  (Natchez.  Miss..  1958). 


IS 


surrounding  neighborhood  of  garden  estates  and  beautiful  mansion  homes  wherein  dwelled 
those  "nabobs"  who  owned  plantations  and  slaves  throughout  the  district.40  (See 
ILLUSTRATION  F) 

The  town  of  Natchez  was  held  together  by  the  common  dependency  of  its  parts  (Under-the- 
Hill,  uptown,  and  villa-like  estates)  on  the  district's  vibrant  slave  economy.  But  perhaps 
most  importantly,  insofar  as  the  district's  slaves  were  concerned,  the  most  compelling  fact 
about  the  place  was  the  pervasiveness  of  its  trade  in  human  chattel.  Beginning  as  early 
as  1720,  and  lasting  until  the  middle  of  the  Civil  War,  thousands  of  slaves  were  sold  on 
the  steps  of  the  town's  courthouse,  in  uptown  auction  houses,  at  the  landing  Under-the- 
Hill  (often  while  still  embarked  on  boats  and  barges),  across  the  river  in  Vidalia,  and  at 
an  outlying  slave  depot  (Forks-of-the-Road)  situated  in  the  very  heart  of  the  town's  most 
prestigious  estate  neighborhood.  The  whole  town,  as  every  visitor  to  the  place  was  likely 
to  comment,  simply  reeked  of  the  foul  business. 


On  the  basis  of  the  above  overview,  it  is  clear  that  there  was  in  slavery,  and  its  associated 
trade,  an  iron-like  cord  of  continuity  running  through  the  Natchez  district's  culture, 
politics,  economy,  society,  and  spirit  from  the  earliest  days  of  the  European  settlement  at 
Fort  Rosalie.  Few  whites  in  the  district  had  avoided  its  prospect;  no  blacks  —  slave  or 
free  —  ever  completely  escaped  its  hold. 


40.  Ibid;  Charles  Lyell,  A  Second  Visit  to  The  United  States  of  North  America:  1845-1846  (London,  1850), 
pp.  194-201;  Tyrone  Power,  Impression  of  American  During  the  Years,  1833,  1834,  1835  Vol.  I  (Philadelphia, 
Pa.,  1836),  pp.  121-131. 

19 


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20 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  NATCHEZ  SLAVERY 


The  vast  majority  of  African-Americans  who  lived  in  the  environs  of  antebellum  Natchez 
worked  as  enslaved  people  on  plantations  in  hinterland  counties  and  parishes,  in  the  town 
of  Natchez  as  laborers  and  petty  business  operatives,  and  on  nearby  estates  as  servants 
and  gardeners  and  farm  hands.  A  few  of  them,  both  slave  and  free,  worked  in  lumber 
camps,  on  riverboats,  and  as  the  slaves  and  hirelings  of  small  farmers.  Each  work 
experience  involved  essential  similarities  and  significant  differences  affected  by  time  and 
place  and  the  age,  gender,  color,  and  status  of  the  enslaved. 


THE  PLANTATION  MILIEU 

It  is  important  to  understand  that  73  percent  of  the  slaves  in  Adams  County  lived,  in  the 
1850s,  on  large  plantations  of  fifty  or  more  slaves  per  plantation.  Across  the  Mississippi 
River  in  Concordia  Parish,  the  figure  was  higher:  85  percent.  This  means  that  the 
plantation  setting  was  the  typical  experience  for  Natchez  slaves. 

To  be  a  plantation  slave  was  to  be  entrapped  in  the  cultivation  of  cotton  as  one's  principal 
activity  of  life.42  Students  of  southern  history  generally  agree  that  growing  cotton 
required  few  skills  which  could  not  be  quickly  learned  on  the  job.  Basically,  the  duties 
were  seasonal  and  could  be  easily  compartmentalized.  Once  a  plantation  had  been  cleared 
of  trees,  brush,  and  roots  (heavy  duty  that  emphasized  a  male  dominated  slave  force  in  the 
first  years  of  a  plantation's  existence),  a  gang  of  laborers  would  be  set  to  work  ploughing 
the  fields.  This  was  done  by  means  of  horse,  mule,  and  even  oxen  drawn  iron  and  (later) 


41.  U.S.  Census  (1860),  Manuscript  Population  and  Slave  Schedules,  Adams  County,  Mississippi,  and 
Concordia  Parish  Louisiana. 

42.  The  following  discussion  of  plantation  agriculture  is  based  on  several  secondary  sources  specific  to 
Mississippi  as  well  as  sources  dealing  with  southern  agriculture  in  general.  In  addition,  numerous  manuscript 
collections  pertinent  to  Natchez  district  farming  have  been  consulted.  The  list  includes  the  following: 
Aventine  Diary  of  Charles  Sauters  for  1857,  58,59,  Mississippi  Department  of  Archives  and  History  (hereafter 
cited  as  MDAH),  Jackson,  Mississippi;  John  W.  Blassingame,  The  Slave  Community:  Plantation  Life  in  the 
Ante-Bellum  South  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1972);  James  Brown  Papers,  MDAH;  Audley  Clark  Britton  Family 
Papers,  Hill  Memorial  Library,  Louisiana  State  University  (hereafter  cited  as  LSU),  Baton  Rouge,  Louisiana; 
Lemuel  Parker  Conner  Family  Papers,  LSU;  Alexander  K.  Farrar  Papers,  LSU;  Eugene  D.  Genovese,  The 
Political  Economy  of  Slavery:  Studies  in  the  Economy  of  the  Slave  South  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1971;  J.A.  Gillespie 
Family  Papers,  LSU;  Lewis  C.  Gray,  History  of  Agriculture  in  the  Southern  United  States  to  1860,  2  vols. 
(Washington,  D.C.,  1933);  Lewis  Harper,  Report  on  the  Geology  and  Agriculture  of  the  State  of  Mississippi 
(Jackson,  Miss.,  1857);  Eugene  W.  Hilgard,  Report  on  the  Geology  and  Agriculture  of  the  State  of  Mississippi 
(Jackson,  Miss.,  1860);  John  C.  Jenkins  Diary,  Natchez  Historic  Foundation,  Natchez,  Mississippi;  Thomas  W. 
Knox,  Camp-Fire  and  Cotton-Field:  Life  With  the  Union  Armies  and  Residence  on  a  Louisiana  Plantation 
(New  York,  N.Y.,  1865);  John  Hebron  Moore,  Agriculture  in  Ante-belllum  Mississippi  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1958; 
The  Emergence  of  the  Cotton  Kingdom  in  the  Old  Southwest  (Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1988);  William  Newton  Mercer 
Family  Papers,  LSU;  William  J.  Minor  Family  Papers,  LSU;  Ulrich  B.  Phillips,  Life  and  Labor  in  the  Old 
South  (Boston,  Mass.,  1948);  Mack  Swearingen,  "Thirty  Years  of  a  Mississippi  Plantation:  Charles  Whitmore 
of  'Montpelier,'"  The  Journal  of  Southern  History  I  (1935),  pp.  198-211;  Charles  S.  Sydnor,  Slavery  in 
Mississippi  (Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1966,  originally  published  in  1933);  B.L.C.  Wailes,  Report  on  the  Agriculture 
and  Geology  of  Mississippi,  Embracing  a  Sketch  of  the  Social  and  Natural  History  of  the  State  (Philadelphia, 
Pa.,  1854). 

21 


steel  ploughs  used  to  turn  up  the  soil  in  rows  for  planting.  In  some  cases  a  field  would  be 
horizontally  ploughed,  even  between  the  rows,  but  this  was  more  a  northern  characteristic 
not  commonly  practiced  in  Mississippi.  With  the  field  ploughed,  a  planting  gang  dropped 
cotton  seeds  into  the  rows  by  hand  or,  later,  by  means  of  crude,  horse-drawn  drilling 
machines.  This  could  all  be  accomplished  during  the  spring  planting  season,  which  usually 
began  in  March.  With  the  advent  of  April  rains,  all  slaves  would  be  set  to  work  hoeing  the 
weeds  between  the  rows  and  especially  near  the  young  cotton  plants.  On  most  plantations, 
the  four-foot  spaced  rows  would  be  scraped  clean  of  weeds  again  and  again,  using  mules 
and  horses  and  light  scraping  plough-like  implements.  Most  hand  hoeing  was  confined 
principally  to  the  hills  around  the  cotton  plants.  Such  attention  to  weeding  consumed  most 
of  the  summer. 

When  the  cotton  was  ready  to  be  harvested,  the  entire  slave  force  would  turn  out  to  gather 
the  crop  before  the  rains  and  winds  could  discolor  or  trash  the  fibrous  bolls.  Here  the 
smallest  and  most  dexterous  slaves  were  often  the  most  valued  as  pickers.  The  stooped 
labor  placed  a  premium  on  small-handed  women  and  teenagers  who  could  work  with  less 
back  fatigue  and  pick  neater  cotton  because  of  their  ability  to  pull  the  fiber  more  cleanly 
from  the  pods.  Large-handed  male  slaves  might  work  harder  and  faster  in  the  field  — 
picking  more  cotton,  but  the  end  result  was  usually  a  dirtier  product.43 

Once  the  cotton  was  picked,  and  this  work  could  last  through  October  and  November  as 
plants  matured  at  different  times,  the  sacks  of  cotton  had  to  be  hauled  to  wagons  for 
transport  to  the  gin  houses  on  the  plantation  or  in  town.  Most  often,  the  large  plantations 
had  their  own  gins  or  used  machines  on  neighboring  places.  Here  a  team  of  five  or  six  men 
fed  the  fiber  into  the  mechanical  devices  that  separated  the  seed  from  the  cotton.  Then  the 
crop  would  be  taken  to  the  pressing  screws  for  baling.  Two  men  and  a  mule  could  turn  the 
screws,  compacting  the  crop  into  450-pound  squares  bound  by  wood,  iron,  or  rope  straps. 
Once  the  cotton  was  baled,  it  would  be  hauled  to  the  river,  usually  the  landing  at  Natchez- 
Under-the-Hill,  for  transport  aboard  steamboats  and  riverbarges  to  New  Orleans.44 

The  work  described  above  required  strength  and  coordination  above  all  else.  Men  were 
favored  as  the  best  plough  hands  simply  because  the  work  of  keeping  the  mules  in  line, 
turning  the  team,  and  lifting  the  heavy  oak  and  iron  ploughs  demanded  brute  strength. 
Hoeing  and  picking  could  be  done  by  all  hands  together.  How  the  work  was  allocated 
depended  on  the  decisions  of  overseers  and  planters.  Most  planters  preferred  using  gang 
labor  in  which  a  pace  would  be  set  by  black  drivers  and  lead  field  hands  under  the  direct 
supervision  of  the  overseer.  This  gang  method  could  be  adapted  to  ploughing,  hoeing,  and 
picking.  Some  planters,  especially  toward  the  end  of  the  antebellum  period,  used  the  task 
system.  This  too  involved  gangs,  but  the  work  was  organized  around  a  given  task  —  so 
many  rows  ploughed  or  hoed  —  to  be  accomplished  by  day's  end.  Tasking,  it  was  commonly 
believed,  motivated  field  hands  by  allowing  them  to  quit  the  fields  once  their  assigned  jobs 


43.  Ibid.    Sec  especially  the  Aventine  Diary. 

44.  Ibid 


22 


were  accomplished.  The  typical  plantation  used  a  combination  of  gang  and  task  work 
arrangements  in  the  decade  before  the  Civil  War.45 

Although  cotton  was  the  primary  crop  grown,  most  plantation  slaves  worked  at  a  variety 
of  farm  jobs.  Table  3  below  indicates  the  diversity  and  near  self-sufficiency  of  the  typical 
plantation's  economy.  The  tabular  data  lists  the  production  figures  for  six  plantations  in 
the  Natchez  vicinity,  randomly  selected  from  the  Manuscript  Census  of  1860. 

Among  other  features  of  the  large  plantation,  none  was  so  consuming  of  labor  as  was  the 
handling  and  upkeep  of  its  assorted  work  animals.  Plantation  #4  (in  Table  3),  for  example, 
employed  some  sixty-three  working  stock  of  horses,  mules,  and  oxen.  Usually,  horses  and 
mules  were  used  as  plough  animals  with  oxen  performing  the  heavy  duty  of  hauling 
timber  and  wagon  loads  of  supplies  and  cotton.  These  animals  required  constant  attention 
by  the  slaves  assigned  to  handle  them.  They  had  to  be  properly  driven,  fed  (often  three 
times  a  day),  watered,  and  stabled  at  night.  On  most  plantations,  mules  were  the  animals 
of  preference  because  they  were  stronger  than  horses  and  more  intelligent  than  oxen.  Most 
importantly,  mules  could  withstand  the  abuse  of  those  slaves  who  might  take  out  their 
frustrations  on  their  master's  property.  Horses  could  be  walked  off  a  cliff,  overworked, 
spooked  into  hurting  themselves,  or  over-watered  and  over-fed  in  comparison  to  mules.46 

In  addition,  most  plantations  kept  substantial  numbers  of  cows,  cattle,  sheep,  and  pigs. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  these  animals  required  much  attention  since  they  were  not  prized 
stock  or  bred  for  quality  meat.  Their  principal  purpose  was  to  provide  a  degree  of  self- 
sufficiency  in  slave  provisions.  It  was  not  uncommon,  moreover,  to  find  hogs  and  cattle 
running  nearly  wild  on  a  plantation's  woodlands.  A  few  choice  animals  might  be  closely 
attended  as  food  for  the  planter's  household,  but  the  number  was  probably  never  very 
large.47 


45.  Ibid.  There  is  little  evidence  to  support  the  contention  that  tasking  resulted  in  greater  personal  time  for 
the  enslaved.  Rather,  it  is  likely  that  tasks  were  set  so  as  to  enable  a  lead  hand  to  pace  the  workers  at  a  rate 
that  would  take  up  most  of  the  working  day.  In  this  sense,  the  task  system  was  actually  tantamount  to  a  kind 
of  speedup  in  the  work  routine. 

46.  Ibid.  See  especially  Phillips,  Life  and  Labor  in  the  Old  South,  p.  135;  Kenneth  M.  Stampp,  The  Peculiar 
Institution:   Slavery  in  the  Ante-Bellum  South  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1956). 

47.  Ibid.  Some  Natchez  planters  were  the  exception  to  this  generalization,  keeping  large  numbers  of  animals 
for  breeding  and  provisions.    See  especially  John  Hebron  Moore,  Agriculture  in  Ante-Bellum  Mississippi. 

23 


Table  3.   Production  for  Select  Plantations  —  1860 


Slaves 

44 

135 

315 

100 

93 

275 

Horses 

5 

58 

16 

16 

7 

15 

Mules 

19 

22 

16 

16 

7 

15 

Oxen 

12 

22 

158 

31 

13 

84 

Milch  Cows 

r.ii 

20 

52 

25 

12 

10 

Cattle 

50 

50 

116 

50 

105 

30 

Sheep 

40 

100 

300 

0 

0 

60 

Wool  (lbs) 

50 

200 

900 

0 

0 

100 

Swine 

40 

80 

128 

125 

90 

150 

Corn  (bshls) 

1,000 

4,000 

9,000 

5,000 

2,500 

10,000 

Hay  (tons) 

10 

10 

0 

10 

15 

50 

Cotton  (bales) 

150 

375 

985 

700 

296 

1750 

Beans  &  Peas  (bshls) 

50 

500 

160 

1,000 

1,000 

500 

Potatoes  (bshls) 

50 

30 

50 

0 

0 

100 

Swt  Potatoes  (bshls) 

100 

100                  30 
ural,   Population,  and 

500                  0 
Slave  Schedules,  Adams 

3,000 

Source:   U.S.   Census 

(1860),  Agriculti 

;  County, 

Mississippi  and  Concordia  Parish,  Loui 

siana. 

All  these  creatures,  prized  or  not,  had  to  be  fed.  That  is  why  a  good  portion  of  the  slave's 
working  day  was  devoted  to  corn,  beans,  and  hay.  The  routine  was  simple  enough.  A 
plantation  that  produced  1000  bushels  of  corn  and  700  bales  of  cotton  typically  practiced 
a  two-field  planting  arrangement  in  which  corn-  and  cottonfields  would  be  ploughed, 
planted,  and  hoed  often  side-by-side.  The  exact  acreage  devoted  to  each  crop  was  always 
an  individual  decision,  but  six  acres  in  cotton  and  three  in  corn  for  every  prime  slave  hand 
was  the  usual  standard.  Corn  would  be  planted  in  April  or  March,  using  about  the  same 
routine  as  used  in  cotton.  The  stalks  would  be  pealed  of  their  leaves  for  fodder  in  mid- 
summer and  the  husks  taken  shortly  thereafter.  Then  the  animals  would  be  turned  loose 
in  the  cornfields  to  forage  prior  to  a  second  ploughing  and  the  planting  of  a  second  crop 
to  be  harvested  after  the  cotton  had  been  taken  in  October.48 

Cowpeas  were  usually  planted  among  the  corn,  with  the  resulting  peavines  gathered  in 
summer  to  be  dried  for  hay  or  else  left  for  the  stock  to  forage  in  late  summer.  Sweet 
potatoes,  the  other  large  crop,  could  be  planted  along  with  corn  and  cotton  and  harvested 
for  their  fruit,  just  prior  to  cotton  picking  season,  as  winter  feed  for  hogs  and  humans.49 

The  work  routine  on  the  typical  plantation  was  easily  compartmentalized  into  several 
variations  of  the  same  labor.  Men  worked  as  plough  hands  using  heavy  and  light 
instruments  for  turning  the  soil  and  scraping  between  the  rows.  This  ploughing  and 


48.  Ibid. 

49.  Ibid. 


24 


scraping  activity  continued  from  mid-February  until  late  summer,  when  the  plough  hands 
took  to  the  fields  for  harvesting  the  cotton  and  corn.  Women  and  teenagers  generally 
worked,  during  the  same  general  time  period,  as  hoeing  hands,  either  in  gangs  or  at  tasks. 
All  hands  participated  in  peeling  corn  leaves  for  fodder,  shucking  husks,  and  picking 
cotton.  Children  too  young  to  work  in  the  fields  toted  water  to  the  workers,  rounded  up 
animals,  worked  as  trash  gangs  cleaning  up  around  the  gins,  and  helped  serve  the  midday 
meals.  Small-fry  toddlers  and  infants  were  looked  after  by  the  elderly  in  corrals  or 
nurseries  located  near  the  slave  quarters  or  in  proximity  to  the  overseer's  house.50 

The  work  journal  of  John  C.  Jenkins  for  his  Elgin  plantation  in  Adams  County  tells  a 
typical  story.  Jenkins'  plantation  lay  about  six  miles  south  of  Natchez  in  the  vicinity  of 
Second  Creek.  The  following  excerpts  show  exactly  what  his  slaves  experienced  as  field 
hands  for  the  first  half  of  the  year  1842. 51 


Feb  16.  Finished  today  ploughing  Hedges  Field  —  it  has  taken 

6  ploughing  with  6  ploughs  and  say  5  days  with  8 
ploughs. 

Feb.  18.  Sooran  &  John  continue  making  post  &  rail  fence  — 

Feb.  19.  Carpenter  finished  cupboard  —  and  begin  on  fence  next 

to  house. 

Feb.  22.  Left  all  the  young  locust  and  sassafras  trees  standing  — 

trimmed  them  up  to  near  top  and  cut  out  all  the  scrubby 
ones  —  Some  of  these  trees  to  be  transplanted  next  year 
along  the  road  to  Natchez  —  make  an  avenue  of  them. 

Feb.  23.  John  &  Sooran  at  fence  —  4  women  &  2  men  yet  at  hill 

in  front  of  the  house  which  has  kept  4  men  &  6  women 
hands  steadily  occupied  since  November  with  2  scrapers 
and  2  carts. 

Feb.  24.  Hoe  hands  continue  to  clear  hillside  &  plant  in  corn. 

Moses  &  Charles  went  to  Natchez  —  took  in  eleven  bales 
cotton  and  brot  out  100  cypress  pickets  —  grind  stone  & 
linseed  oil  &  Mr.  Rose's  pickets. 

Feb.  26.  Finished  half  the  garden  fence  this  evening.  .  .  . 

March  1.  Heavy  showers  of  rain  this  morning  no  ploughing  done 

or  corn  planted  —  Ploughmen  all  cutting  wood  at  home 
&  some  hands  at  the  hillside  between  showers.  Sooran 


50.  Ibid. 

51.  See  John  C.  Jenkins  Diary,  Historic  Natchez  Foundation,  Natchez,  Mississippi;  also  Mark  Groen,  "John 
C.  Jenkins,  An  Antebellum  Natchez  Planter,"  unpublished  graduate  seminar  paper,  California  State 
University,  Northridge,  in  author's  possession. 

25 


March  3. 


March  11. 

March  18. 
March  30. 

April  1. 
April  18. 

April  19. 

April  25. 
April  26. 

April  28. 

April  30. 
May  2. 


Mav  3. 


May  5. 


&  John  clearing  out  cellars.  Braddock  sent  into  Natchez 
for  letters  and  papers. 

10  hands  in  the  front  yard  —  Sooran  and  John  making 
fence  around  garden  —  Trimmed  up  all  the  young 
sassafras  &  locust  trees  in  the  hollows  where  we  cleared 
today. 

Ploughs  in  the  bottom  breaking  up  for  corn  —  other 
force  planting  corn. 

Moses  brot  out  marbles  &  pork.  Still  hoeing  corn. 

Sent  Moses  to  Natchez  after  tomatoe  plants  —  put  down 
netting  and  set  out  plants  in  garden. 

Sent  Oliver  to  Natchez  to  bring  out  pots  for  flowers.  Hoe 
hands  yet  in  Hedges  field  at  Corn  &  ploughs  next 
Henderson's  breaking  up. 

The  rain  yesterday  has  made  the  ground  too  wet  to 
plough  —  all  hoes  hands  at  new  road  4  making  fence  & 
4  chopping  down  bushes  in  the  cotton  fields  —  Ben 
planting  Bermuda  grass.  .  .  . 

Tuesday  —  all  hands  started  again  at  Hedges  corn  field 

—  suckler  gang  working  new  road  to  Natchez  —  Randle 
and  Sooran  making  fence. 

Moses  sent  to  Mr.  Henderson's  for  bricks. 

Working  with  4  hands  in  front  of  home  planted  out 
shrubbery  &  Bermuda  grass. 

At  Saragossa  field  &  laying  out  grounds  in  front  of  house 

—  Moses  went  to  Natchez  for  cement  —  Dug  large 
cistern  at  corner  of  V.  House  10  by  16. 

Finished  scraping  out  Saragossa  field  —  having  been  7 
&  1/2  days  with  40  odd  hoes  —  finished  cistern. 

Monday  —  commenced  today  scraping  cotton  on  East 
side  of  plantation  &  planting  the  Egyptian  sod  behind 
the  garden.  Hilling  potatoe  crop.  Sooran  &  Randle 
making  fence. 

Replanting  bad  stand  on  east  side  Heges  field  —  & 
planting  sod. 

All  hands  yet  at  Hedges  field  —  replanting  and  cutting 
out  -  -  Sooran  and  Randle  at  Big  Cane  Meadows  for 
Locust  posts. 


26 


May  19. 
May  23. 

May  28. 

June  3. 
June  18. 


June  30. 

July  5. 
July  9. 

August  9. 
August  10. 

August  12. 
August  13. 


All  hands  in  field  in  back  of  corn  house  —  corn  begins  to 
thrive. 

Wilkins  cutting  oats  —  Sooran  whitewashing  and 
putting  up  fence.  Wilkins  finished  oats  and  housed  this 
evening. 

Nearly  finished  moulding  field  next  to  Henderson's  & 
the  ploughs  nearly  through  Hedges  pasture  Corn. 

Cleared  out  spring  in  Bayou.  .  .  . 

Cleansed  out  the  cisterns  yesterday.  Dug  pond  by 
chicken  yard  &  and  put  out  on  oats  ground  —  broke  up 
for  peas.  Ben  planting  corn  in  garden  &  putting  in  sod 
for  vegetables. 

All  hands  at  Saragossa  field  —  fields  very  grassy  since 
last  rains  —  rushing  the  hands  this  week  to  keep  down 
the  tye  vines. 

Put  in  some  peach  cuttings  —  budding  apples,  pears, 
and  peaches. 

The  boys  who  went  to  River  Place  to  make  baskets 
returned  this  morning  on  Barksville  with  100  baskets  — 
sent  Braddock  &  Moses  for  them  in  afternoon. 

Bottled  wine. 

Send  Sooran  to  Natchez  for  coal,  cotton  &  sundries  for 
bottling  wine. 

Put  up  350  bottles  claret  &  making  vinegar 

Sooran  went  to  Natchez  brot  out  soap,  salt.  Made  tomato 
ketsup.  Now  laying  kitchen  hearth. 


Jenkins'  journal  ends  in  mid-August,  but  the  entries  for  the  first  half  of  the  year  clearly 
indicate  the  slaves'  work  routine.  In  between  all  the  work  associated  with  planting  and 
cultivating  the  crops  was  the  endless  work  of  general  plantation  maintenance.  Wood 
cutting,  fencing,  ditching,  levee  construction  and  repairs,  road  building,  basket  making, 
etc.,  were  done,  when  time  permitted,  by  any  and  all  available  hands. 

It  was  not  uncommon,  moreover,  to  have  one  slave  afoot  in  the  woods  hunting  game  that 
ranged  from  wild  turkeys  to  razorback  hogs  and  deer.  Other  slaves  might  specialize  as 
carpenters  and  blacksmiths.  The  latter  was  an  especially  important  skill  owing  to  the  need 
for  keeping  hoes,  scrapers,  ploughs,  ginning  saws,  and  wagonwheels  in  good  working  order. 


27 


Slave  women  unable  to  do  field  work  due  to  age  or  sickness  frequently  learned  to  sew  and 
spin  cloth  or  else  functioned  as  nursery  maids,  butter  maids,  and  washerwomen.52 

Few  plantations,  however,  possessed  enough  skilled  slave  artisans  to  meet  their  needs. 
Although  brickmakers,  blacksmiths,  carpenters,  and  mechanics  were  always  in  demand 
and  fetched  high  prices,  many  plantations  hired  white  artisans  or  a  neighbor's  skilled 
slaves  to  perform  even  the  most  routine  jobs,  such  as  repairing  cisterns,  building 
chimneys,  and  constructing  cabins.  Plantation  diaries  and  journals  are  replete  with  entries 
denoting  the  constant  outlay  of  money  for  hired  craftsmen  and  skilled  hands.53  Entries 
in  Jenkins'  journal  for  August  and  September  of  1855  reveal  just  how  common  was  the 
practice  of  bringing  in  skilled  crafts  people  —  usually  whites  —  for  almost  any  work  of 
some  complexity. 


August  8.  1855. 


Mr.  McPherson  having  finished  fence  and  other  jobs, 
begins  today  to  prepare  his  lumber  for  addition  to  north 
end  of  the  house.  .  .  see  how  long  this  job  will  take.  .  . 
Mr.  Craig  was  about  3  months  at  similar  addition  to 
other  end. 


August  9. 


Set  men  to  cutting  out  large  popular  beam  in  stable  to 
make  sills  for  addition  to  house.  .  .  cut  down  china  tree 
north  of  parlor  and  will  begin  tomorrow  to  dig 
foundation  to  house  for  addition. 


August  10. 


2  men  began  today  to  whip  saw  the  sills  for  my  new 
addition.  Began  to  dig  out  foundation  north  of  parlor  and 
hauled  over  some  brick  for  kiln. 


August  28. 
August  31. 

September  4. 
September  6. 


Mr.  Mcpherson  raising  addition  to  north  end  of  house. 

Carpenters  raising  second  or  upper  story  to  new 
addition,  and  got  all  up  by  dark.  1  team  hauling  up  brick 
for  new  chimney. 

Carpenters  framing  and  laying  sleepers  or  joice  for  3rd 
story  of  house  —  4  hands  digging  cellar  —  this  makes 
third  week  we  have  been  engaged  in  digging  out  cellar. 
Most  of  the  time  2  horse  carts  at  it. 

Sent  Archie  to  Natchez  &  got  out  the  2  bricklayers  from 
Reynolds  and  Brown,  began  on  Chimney  at  11  o'clock.  & 
by  dark  had  got  half  way  up  first  story  of  lower  room. 
This  chimney  will  take  about  6000  brick. 


See  especially  the  Aventine  Diary  of  Charles  Sauters,  MDAH.    The  Aventine  plantation  was  owned  by 
G  B    Shields,  who  lived  at  Montebello  near  Natchez. 

53.      See  Eugene  Genovcse's  discussion  of  the  problem  of  low  skills  among  plantation  slaves  in  his  Roll. 
Jordan,  Roll.  pp.  388-398. 


28 


The  above  notations  refer  to  the  construction  of  an  addition  to  Jenkins'  plantation 
mansion.54  Slaves  could  be  used  for  the  heavy  work  of  cutting  trees,  digging  foundations, 
hauling  brick,  and  even  sawing  timber  for  unfinished  planks,  but  most  skilled  work  was 
contracted  off  the  plantation.  Other  items  over  the  years  indicate  Jenkins'  dependency  on 
outside  labor  for  both  the  amenities  of  life  as  well  as  the  everyday  tasks  of  repair  and 
upkeep.55 


September  17. 
1845 

April  1.  1846. 
August  25. 

August  31. 


March  (2nd  wk) 
1849. 


August  14. 

December  8. 

April  23.  1850. 
November  22. 


Sent  Moses  to  Natchez  for  the  new  Gin  stand  of  Bates, 
Hyde  &  Co. 

Mr.  Brown  whitened  the  dining  room  walls  today  and 
the  ceiling  of  the  entry. 

Send  Ab  on  the  Natchez  with  walnut  plant  to  Mr. 
Steward,  who  is  to  make  a  bookcase  of  it.  Brot  out  Mr. 
Gray's  lumber  for  the  library. 

Mr.  O'Brien  from  Natchez  commenced  building  chimney 
in  the  library. 

The  carpenter  Paul,  beginning  to  make  our  picket  fence 
round  Elgin  front  yard.  The  pickets  I  have  purchased 
from  Couzen's  Saw  Mill. 

Having  put  Gin  House  in  tip  top  order  the  carpenter 
Paul  begins  this  week  upon  a  new  stable  and  carriage 
house  up  side  of  old  cotton  house  in  Gin  yard. 

Mr.  Wells  is  papering  Elgin  parlor,  and  Mr.  Paul  making 
frame  for  hanging  our  curtains  over  the  windows. 

Mr.  Paul  began  to  paint  north  side  of  house. 

Mr.  Paul  jobbing  about  the  house  this  week  —  putting 
door  upon  shed  room  &  sash  over  door  in  my  room  & 
fixing  billiard  room  for  Dr.  Gried.  Since  our  absence 
(some  five  months)  Mr.  Paul  has  put  new  sills  under  the 
corn  house,  made  entirely  new  sheds  posts  of  locusts, 
new  rafters,  new  lathing  &  covered  with  new  cypress 
shingles-making  the  house  now  better  than  when  first 
built  —  he  has  also  built  a  double  privy  in  the  yard  — 
put  a  new  cover  of  3  ft  cypress  boards  upon  large  cotton 
house  in  gin  house  yard  —  and  is  now  building  a 
summer  house  in  garden  besides  doing  several  small  jobs 
in  &  about  the  house. 


54.  Jenkins  Diary. 

55.  Ibid. 


29 


June  23,  1851.  Sent  two  teams  to  Natchez  &  brought  out   1000  feet 

flooring  dressed  yellow  pine  and  500  white  pine.  From 
Dr.  Young's  kiln  —  36  —  in  all.  Mr.  Cracy  came  out  this 
afternoon  with  Mr.  Black,  &  his  boy  Lewis,  to  begin 
work  on  addition  to  the  house.  George  the  brick  mason 
has  nearly  finished  cellar. 

June  13,  1853.  The  old  kitchen  house  is  to  be  torn  down  —  also  the 

house  behind  it  used  as  a  wash  house,  and  sleeping 
rooms  for  servents  —  we  shall  also  tear  down  the  old 
kitchen  for  plantation  and  this  will  rid  us  of  the  old 
houses  in  yard.  The  wagon  will  soon  have  hauled  over 
from  the  Forest,  the  16,000  bricks  I  purchased  —  these 
brick  will  answer  for  the  side  walls  &  foundation  of  new 
kitchen  house. 


Nor  was  Jenkins  alone  in  the  limited  use  of  his  slaves.  Gin  houses,  cotton  presses,  grist 
mills,  barns,  stables,  mansions,  and  even  crude  slave  cabins  were  seldom  built  by  slave 
labor,  except  in  the  sense  of  a  gang  of  field  hands  digging  foundations  and  hauling 
supplies.  In  1860,  planter  Gerard  Brandon,  employed  William  Scothorn  to  erect  fourteen 
slave  cabins,  on  his  Canebrake  plantation  in  Concordia.  Scothorn,  who  had  built  similar 
plantation  structures  in  the  district  —  including  overseers'  houses  and  cook  houses, 
supplied  his  own  laborers  and  provisions.  In  this  case,  black  workers  employed  or  owned 
by  Scothorn  might  have  assisted  him,  but  there  is  little  indication  that  he  used  plantation 
slaves  in  erecting  the  relatively  simply  built  slave  quarters.56 

The  above  material  suggests  that  plantation  slaves  were  field  hands  pure  and  simple. 
Most  were  specialized  in  the  sense  of  being  plough  hands,  or  hoeing  hands,  or  scrapers, 
depending  on  seasonal  needs,  but  all  were  expected,  in  addition  to  their  field  specialty,  to 
do  just  about  every  simple  thing  on  the  place  —  from  backbreaking  labor  to  fetching  and 
picking-up.0' 

Regarding  shelter,  diet,  clothing,  and  medical  care,  planters  typically  allocated  just  the 
bare  minimum  of  resources  needed  to  keep  slaves  healthy  enough  to  work  and  reproduce. 
Looking  first  at  the  question  of  shelter,  masters  and  slaves  lived  in  similar 
accommodations  during  the  so-called  pioneer  stages  of  plantation  building:  crude  dirt- 
floored  log  cabins  without  fireplaces  or  windows.  In  Concordia  Parish,  the  pioneer  stage 
lasted,  in  some  cases,  up  to  the  eve  of  the  Civil  War.  But  most  well-established  plantations 
in  the  Natchez  region  provided  slaves  with  cabins  somewhat  more  substantial  than  the 
log  cabins  of  old.  Taking  Scothorn's  contracts  as  a  guide,  the  typical  slave  cabin  in  the 
1850s  was  most  likely  a  20  x  19  x  10-foot  high,  two  room  structure,  floored  with  pine  or 


56  Florence  LeClercq  Eisole.  "Ante-Bellum  Slave  Dwellings  on  Plantations  of  Southern  United  State," 
unpublished  manuscript.  Historic  Natchez  Foundation,  Natchez,.  Mississippi. 

57.  This  is  not  to  say  that  planters  did  not  designate  certain  slaves  to  specific  tasks.  On  the  Aventine 
plantation,  for  example.  Charles  Sauters  used  individual  slaves  as  teamsters,  carpenters,  and  seamstresses 
on  a  regular  basis  These  workers  were  undoubtedly  more  skilled  than  the  average  field  hands,  but  their 
special  duties  never  completely  precluded  them  from  working  at  general  plantation  labor  whenever  the  need 
arose,  from  ploughing  to  picking  cotton  and  shucking  corn.    See  the  Aventine  Diary  mentioned  above. 

W 


cypress  planks.  Many  such  buildings  featured  an  open  hallway,  or  dog-trot,  that  ran 
through  the  center  of  the  building  allowing  the  air  to  circulate.  Double  cabins  of  the  sort 
built  for  Canebrake  plantation  had  at  least  two  windows  in  each  room  and  a  fireplace  or 
chimney  of  brick.  The  building  was  usually  raised  off  the  ground  by  about  three  feet  on 
brick  pillars.58  (ILLUSTRATION  G; 

Planters  tended  to  position  the  slave  cabins  in  a  section  of  the  plantation  known  as  the 
"quarters."  The  cabins  were  normally  placed  in  a  double  row,  making  for  a  kind  of  lane  or 
street,  with  doorways  facing  outward  toward  the  center.  The  overseer's  house  was  usually 
located  at  the  front  end  of  the  lane.  The  "street's"  opposite  end,  generally  opened  onto  the 
fields.  In  many  cases,  especially  on  relatively  well-established  plantations,  the  slave  cabins 
were  placed  between  the  gin  houses,  grist  mills,  barns,  and  the  main  plantation  house, 
possibly  as  a  better  precaution  against  the  spreading  of  fire  —  accidental  or  intended  — 
from  the  work  buildings  to  the  "big  house."  House  servants  frequently  lived  apart  from  the 
slave  quarters  of  the  field  hands  in  brick  buildings  near  the  big-house  dependencies  — 
meaning  kitchens,  washhouses,  storage  buildings,  and  toilets.  Again,  brick  was  the 
preferred  construction  material  for  big  house  dependencies  as  a  precaution  against  fire. 
Adjacent  to  the  slave  quarters  could  be  found  cisterns,  wells,  ponds,  cooking  ovens, 
vegetable  gardens,  and  poultry  pens. 

The  census  enumerators  for  Concordia  Parish  noted  in  the  manuscript  census  records  for 
1860  the  occupants  of  every  slave  cabin  in  the  Parish.  Although  the  evidence  is  sketchy 
at  best,  a  close  examination  of  these  census  records  suggests  that  most  cabins  were 
occupied  by  slave  families.  (See  Table  4)  Individual  plantations  like  Canebrake  and  Indian 
Village  generally  conform  to  the  pattern  for  the  Parish  as  a  whole,  with  the  striking 
observation  that  the  slave  quarters  on  some  plantations  (such  as  those  at  Indian  Village) 
were  principally  occupied  by  slave  families.59 


58.  See  Scothorn's  work  diary  a?  quoted  in  Eisele,  "Ante-Bellum  Slave  Dwellings  on  Plantations  of  Southern 
United  States."  In  addition  to  Scothorn,  the  Probate  Records  of  the  estate  of  Lewis  Evans  contain  a  contract 
with  carpenter  James  Moore  for  "14  negro  cabins"  on  the  Breunsberg  plantation  in  Claiborne  County.  The 
specifications  for  the  Moore  contract,  drawn  up  in  1825,  are  strikingly  similar  to  those  noted  in  Scothorn's 
diary.  See  Box  13,  Document  No.  50,  October  31,  1825,  Probate  Records,  Estate  of  Lewis  Evans,  Office  of 
Records,  Adams  County,  Natchez,  Mississippi. 

59.  U.S.  Census  (1860),  Manuscript  Population  and  Slave  Schedules,  Concordia  Parish.  Louisiana 

31 


Willam  B.  Scothorns  Work  Diary  for  the  Year  I860* 

Double  cabUis,  with  12  feet  open  passage,  floored,  between  cabins  to  be  JO 
i  j  feet  high  from  top  of  sill  to  top  of  plate.  To  be  planked  with  plank  10-12  inches 
uide  I1/2  inches  thick' up  and  down),  &  the  joints  covered  with  lathes,  3  inches 
uide.  i  i  inches  thick.  The  flooring  planks  to  be  jointed  &  laid  on  laths,  so  that 
the  joints  may  be  covered. 

The  upright  plank  to  project  high  enough  above  the  plates  to  come  close  up 
to  the  shingles.  &  the  gable  and  weatherboard  so  close  as  to  exclude  the  air 
entirely,  /be  bouses  to  be  raised  on  brick  pillars,  3  feet  from  the  surface  of  the 
earth  to  the  top  of  the  sills.  To  be  covered  with  3  feet  boards.  &  the  ends  to  project 
over  the  gables 

16  cabins  of  this  size.  8  on  each  side  of  the  center.  &  a  space  120  feet  left 
be/ween  the  two  center  cabins. 

The  cabins  to  he  built  for  Mr.  DM.  Smiths  (?)  &  owner  to  furnish  nothing 
but  the  lumber  &  the  nails  &  hinges  and  will  hire  a  cook  to  the  contractor,  who 
must  furnish  his  own  provisions  and  his  own  hands. 


.Ea 


20x19 


i  : 


12x19 


] 


20x19 


~^3~ 


TX 


( •  !(**  lirjM 


*The  Scothorn  Diary  is  the  properly  of  Florence  Le  C.  Eiscle. 
Copy  in  Natchez  Historic  Foundation,  Natchez,  Mississippi 


Illustration  G:    Slave  Cabins 


32 


Table  4.    Occupants  of  Concordia  Slave  Cabins  in  1860 

All  Canebrake  Indian 

Concordia        Plantation         Plantation 


1.  Mother,  Father,  Children 

2.  Mother,  Father,  Children 
plus  Other  Adults 

3.  One  Adult  and  Children 

4.  Family  and  Elderly 
Total 

5.  Male  and  Female 

6.  Two  Adults  or  More 

7.  One  Adult 

8.  Elderly 

9.  Other 
Total 

Children  ages  0-15 
Females  slaves  16-65 
Male  Slaves  16-65 
Old  over  65 

Number  of  Cabins 
Number  of  Slaves 
People  per  Cabin 


36  % 


41  % 


51  % 


24 

10 

21 

10 

15 

17 

3 

0 

0 

73  % 

66  % 

89  % 

3 

5 

0 

18 

28 

11 

1 

0 

0 

1 

1 

0 

4 

0 

0 

27  % 

34  % 

11   r/c 

28  % 

29  % 

41  % 

37 

37 

29 

39 

32 

28 

1 

2 

0 

2,749 

32 

22 

12,542 

113 

100 

4  to  5 

3  to  4 

4  to  5 

Source:   U.S.   Census  (1860),  Manuscript  Population   and  Slave  Schedules,   Concordia   Parish, 
Louisiana 


Prime  age,  male  slaves  lived  in  the  quarters  as  husbands,  fathers,  and  sons  in 
approximately  the  same  proportion  as  slave  mothers,  sisters,  and  daughters.  Children 
were  everywhere  underfoot.  On  some  places,  like  Indian  Village,  there  were  almost  as 
many  youths  as  adults.  Only  a  handful  of  single  parent  families  or  childless  couples 
occupied  individual  cabins.  Rather,  the  typical  cabin  was  occupied  by  what  appears  to  have 
been  slave  families  consisting  of  four  or  five  people.  On  most  places,  a  number  of  single 
men  and  women,  four  or  five  to  a  dwelling,  shared  the  same  roof.  On  Canebrake,  nearly 
one-third  of  the  slaves  lived  in  cabins  unoccupied  by  children  and  young  people.  Elderly 
slaves,  either  living  alone  or  in  a  family,  were  extremely  rare  members  of  the  plantation 
slave  community. 

Besides  working  from  daybreak  until  darkness  fell,  slaves  spent  some  of  their  limited  free 
time  eating  and  trying  to  rest.  Their  diets  were  fairly  simple  and  quite  standardized.  A 
weekly  ration  of  a  peck  of  cornmeal  and  three  to  five  pounds  of  salted  pork  per  adult  was 
the  usual  fare  in  the  quarters.  Corn  was  cheap,  easily  grown  on  the  plantation,  and  could 


33 


be  fixed  in  a  variety  of  ways  from  bread  and  cakes  to  using  the  grain  for  hominy  and 
grits.60 

Since  the  days  when  Spanish  explorers  brought  herds  of  pigs  into  the  Mississippi  Valley 
as  provisions,  bacon  was  the  companion  food  to  corn  in  the  slave's  diet.  Descendants  of  the 
Spanish  porkers  roamed  the  woods  as  razorback  hogs,  thus  providing  Indians  and  white 
settlers  alike  with  ample  meat,  ready  to  be  hunted,  well  into  the  nineteenth-century. 
Although  it  is  doubtful  that  many  razorback  were  still  roaming  at  large  in  the  Natchez 
district  by  1850,  the  practice  of  provisioning  the  slaves  with  pork  was  so  firmly  established 
that  salted  "fatback"  was  viewed,  by  slaves  and  whites  alike,  to  be  an  essential  component 
of  the  slave  diet.  Most  planters  tried  keeping  hogs  about  the  place,  often  branding  them 
and  allowing  them  the  run  of  fenced  woods  and  rough  lands.  And  unlike  beef  and  mutton 
that  was  better  eaten  fresh,  pigs  could  be  slaughtered,  soaked  in  a  salty  brine,  and  then 
smoked  and  stored  for  later  consumption.  But  because  slaves  appropriated  the  animals  at 
every  opportunity,  there  were  never  enough  hogs  to  completely  provision  the  typical 
plantation.  Many  planters  simply  gave  up  on  keeping  hogs  because  they  could  not  prevent 
their  slaves  from  killing  them.  Nearly  every  plantation,  therefore,  purchased  barrels  of 
salted  pork,  or  fresh  hogs  on  the  hoof,  from  riverboat  hustlers,  Natchez  merchants,  or 
itinerant  pig  drovers.61 

Other  foods  supplemented  the  slave's  basic  corn/pork  diet.  Peas  and  sweet  potatoes  were 
the  most  common  additions  which  planters  were  willing  to  cultivate  as  field  crops.  Such 
food  crops  were  used  as  fodder  and  feed  for  the  mules  and  horses  more  than  they  were 
used  to  feed  the  slaves.  Some  slaves  were  literally  awash  in  molasses,  with  planters 
issuing  weekly  dollops  or  extra  pints  and  quarts  of  the  syrupy  liquid  on  holidays  and 
special  occasions.  Then,  too,  slaves  often  gathered  berries  and  nuts,  cultivated  salad  plants 
like  poke  and  turnip  greens  in  patches  around  the  cabins,  and  partook  of  more  than  a 
little  nocturnal  hunting  for  frogs,  opossums,  raccoons,  and  pond  fish.62 

Almost  anything  that  could  be  trapped  during  night  hours  was  fair  game  for  roaming 
slaves.  Catfish  lines  and  traps  in  ponds  and  bayous  could  be  left  unattended  by  day. 
Opossums  and  "coons"  could  be  captured  alive  by  laying  out  dead  animals  as  bait.  Slave 
quarters  were  filled  with  homemade  cages  wherein  furry  rodents  of  one  sort  or  another 
were  fed  on  grains  poached  from  the  cornfields.63 


See  tin-  Aventine  Diary  mentioned  above  as  well  as  the  following  sources:  Sam  Bowers  Hilliard.  Hog 
Meat  and  Hoecake:  Food  Supply  in  the  Old  South  (Carbondale.  111..  1972).  pp.  37-69;  Lemuel  P.  Conner  Family 
Papers.  Plantation  Journals,  1817-1854  LSU;  DeBou's  Review,  III  (1847).  pp.  419-20;  7  (1849).  pp.  380-383; 
1  1  1853),  pp.  177-78;  25  (1858),  pp.  571-72;  Eugene  D.  Genovese,  Roll,  Jordan,  Roll,  pp.  524-550;  John  H. 
riculture  in  Ante-Bellum  Mississippi,  pp.  93-144;  Arthur  Singleton.  Letters  From  the  South  and  West 
(Boston,  Mass  1824),  pp.  110-115;  Souther  Cultivator.  8  (1950),  pp.  162-164;  Charles  S.  Sydnor,  Slavery  in 
Mississippi,  pp  23-66;  A  Gentleman  of  the  Old  Natchez  Region:  Benjamin  L.C.  Wailes  (Durham  N  C    19381 

61       Ibid.;  see  also  the  wide-ranging  testimony  contained  in  George  P.  Rawick,  (ed.),  The  American  Slave:  A 
Composite  Autobiography.  Supplement  Series  1.6.7.8,10  Mississippi  Narratives  (Westport,  Conn..  1977). 

Ibid 
63      Ibid. 

34 


Beeves  and  sheep  might  be  slaughtered  two  or  three  times  a  year  to  relieve  the  monotony 
of  salted  "fatback."  Feasting  of  this  sort  was  rare,  however,  partly  because  the  meat  did 
not  keep  as  well  as  pork.  Other  foods  were  commonly  hunted  by  white  overseers,  or 
specially  designated  slaves,  for  distribution  among  the  quarters.  In  the  early  years,  bear 
was  valued  for  its  hide,  fat,  and  meat.  Deer,  too,  was  a  good  supplement,  and  relatively 
easy  to  bring  down.  In  addition,  the  swamps  and  forests  around  Natchez  were  abundant 
with  game  birds  of  great  variety,  including  wild  turkeys.64 

There  was  also  the  occasional  opportunity  for  raiding  larders  and  smokehouses  for  those 
slaves  willing  to  risk  a  flogging  if  caught.  One  elderly  ex-slave  interviewed  in  the  1930s 
fondly  remembered  how  he  had  snuck  'taters"  from  the  fields  for  roasting.  Another  told  of 
rifling  his  master's  picnic  baskets  and  gorging  himself  to  the  point  of  sickness  every  time 
he  got  the  chance.65 

Sickness,  however,  seldom  resulted  from  over-eating.  Indeed,  if  overseer  diaries  and 
plantation  journals  are  any  basis  for  judgment,  plantation  slaves  were  a  sickly  lot  on  the 
whole.  Colds,  sore  heads,  cholera,  infections,  yellow  fever,  dropsy,  consumption,  and  scores 
of  ailments  kept  plantation  infirmaries  filled  to  maximum  capacity  with  debilitated  slaves. 
Planter  Henry  Turner  regularly  wrote  to  his  partner  and  brother-in-law,  John  Quitman, 
of  the  poor  health  of  the  slaves  on  their  Palmyra  plantation.  The  year's  bill  for  a  doctor's 
visit  to  treat  the  slaves  came  to  $709.50  in  1851.  Typical  entries  in  the  expense  ledger 
read: 


April    9.  To  visit,  prescription  &  medicins  to  five  Negroes 

10.  15  hours  attention  &  detention  12  hours  at  night 

11.  Prescription  &  preparing  lenament 

19.  Lacing  Harnut's  foot  &  and  bandaging  the  same 

Attention  &  detention  12  hours  at  night 

May     2.  Night  visit  to  upper  place  for  William 


In  all,  the  doctor  employed  by  Turner  to  treat  his  slaves  made  forty-three  calls  at  Palmyra 
in  a  six-month  period,  noting  ninety-three  separate  expenses.  Most  of  the  visits  (90 
percent)  occurred  during  the  more  intensive  working  seasons  associated  with  ploughing 
and  picking.  Fewer  health  problems,  perhaps  not  surprisingly,  required  medical  attention 
during  the  hoeing  months  of  June  and  July.66 

Although  some  slaves  undoubtedly  feigned  illness  to  avoid  working,  the  normal  rule  was 
to  ignore  symptomless  complaints.  Most  planters  understood,  however,  that  some  health 
problems  could  be  avoided.  The  most  preventable  seemed  to  be  those  afflicting  newly 


64.  Ibid. 

65.  Ibid.,  see  especially  the  narratives  of  Charlie  Davenport,  who  was  born  a  slave  on  the  Aventine 
plantation,  Rawick,  Mississippi  Narratives,  VII,  pp.  558-573. 

66.  Henry  Turner  to  John  Quitman,  February  3,   1852,  Quitman  Family  Papers,  Southern  Historical 
Collection,  The  University  of  North  Carolina. 

35 


purchased  slaves  unaccustomed  to  laboring  in  swampy  fields.  Planters  always  preferred 
buying  properly  acculturated  slaves  if  possible.  "Seasoned"  was  the  term  normally  used, 
and  it  was  considered  simple  prudence  to  allow  newly  purchased  slaves  a  transition  period 
of  two  to  four  weeks  before  working  them  on  a  regular  schedule  of  ten  to  fourteen  hours 
a  day.67 

Serious  illness  might  require  transporting  hands  to  a  slave  hospital  in  Natchez.  Several 
town  physicians  operated  black  infirmaries  in  the  1850s,  although  such  places  principally 
treated  town  slaves  and  newly  arrived  blacks  destined  for  sale  in  the  local  slave 
markets.68  Most  ill  plantation  slaves  were  attended  by  a  local  doctor,  with  castor  oil, 
quinine,  cough  medicines,  and  poltices  being  the  usual  remedies  proscribed.  Slaves  with 
broken  bones,  cuts,  wounds,  and  similar  work  related  accidents  required  mending  and  rest 
more  than  anything  else.  But  yellow  fever  —  commonly  referred  to  as  the  ague  — 
contagious  diseases,  infected  sores,  malignant  tumors,  and  debilitating  intestinal  pains 
had  no  easy  cures. 

The  case  of  Matilda  on  the  Eutaw  plantation  offers  but  one  variation  of  the  numerous  and 
nearly  untreatable  sicknesses  affecting  slaves.69  In  September  of  1862,  Natchez  banker 
Audley  Clark  Britton  received  a  disturbing  letter  from  the  overseer  of  his  Louisiana 
plantation.  A  portion  of  it  is  worth  quoting  at  length: 

There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  sickness  on  the  plantation,  but  at  this  time 
all  are  on  the  mend.  I  have  one  case  of  Matilda,  John's  wife,  who  was  taken 
about  five  weeks  ago  with  swelling  of  the  face,  which  I  took  to  be  a  rising. 
I  applied  a  poultice,  when  lo'  there  droped  out  of  her  nose  three  of  the 
largest  maggets  I  ever  saw  in  my  life.  I  had  made  Elder  tea  and  injected  up 
the  nose  when  there  came  about  more  than  a  double  hand  full  —  about  fifty 
from  first  to  last.  When  I  sent  for  the  Doctor,  he  said  he  could  do  nothing 
better  than  I  had  done,  that  she  could  not  live  more  than  three  or  four 

days and  that  I  had  better  keep  on  with  the  treatment.  For  some  days  I 

have  had  some  hopes  of  her  recovery;  but  as  she  begins  to  feel  again  the 
motion  of  worms  and  says  they  are  in  the  back  of  her  ears  I  fear  she  is  yet 
in  danger.'0 

Matilda  continued  to  suffer  agonizingly  for  some  time  with  nothing  able  to  cure  her.  Then 
another  slave,  Old  Bill,  fell  victim  to  the  worms.  The  doctor  suggested  injections  of 
vinegar,    but   to    no   good    effect.    Finally,   Britton's   overseer   discovered    that    "using 


67.  Aventine  Plantation  Diary;  John  Knight  to  William  M.  Beal,  June  27.  1844,  John  Knight  Papers.  Duke 
University;  Rawick,  Mississippi  Narratives,  VII.  pp.  558-573 

68.  Mississippi  Free-Trader,  January  7,  1846;  March  12.  1856;  William  Dosite  Postell,  The  Health  of  Slaves 
on  Southern  Plantations  (Gloucester.  Mass..  19701,  pp.  130-135;  Henry  Tooley.  History  of  the  Yellow  Fever  as 
It  Appeared  in  the  City  of  Natchez  in  the  Month  of  August,  September  &  October,  1823.  MDAH.  A  slave 
hospital,  possibly  state  supported,  operated  near  the  Forks-of-the  Road  slave  market  in  the  last  two  decades 
before  the  Civil  War. 

69.  See  Audley  Clark  Britton  Family  Papers.  LSU. 

70.  James  W,  Melvin  to  AC   Britton.  September  29.  1862.  Britton  Papers. 

36 


tobacco. ...made  the  worms  let  go."  Although  the  concoction  failed  to  completely  cure  Old 
Bill  or  Matilda,  it  seemed  to  drive  the  worms  from  their  bodies  at  least  temporarily.71 
Other  entries  in  the  overseer's  letters  to  Britton  illustrate  the  array  of  illness  —  and  the 
remedies  —  that  typically  afflicted  plantation  slaves:72 

October  2,  1862.  Kitty  has  been  suffering  for  two  or  three  weeks  from 

pain  in  the  ear  occasioned  from  an  earwig  getting  into  her  ear.  She 
says,  she  felt  it  when  it  got  in  and  pulled  it  out.  When  the  doctor 
came  to  see  Bill,  I  had  him  to  look  at  her.  He  said  I  was  doing  for 
her  all  that  was  right.  .  .  .  The  pain  she  suffers  prevents  her  from 
doing  anything. 

Dipsy  also  I  had  him  examine.  He  told  me  as  Dr.  Wren  had 
told  me  before  that  nothing  ailed  her.  But  I  am  of  a  different 
opinion.  I  fear  that  if  she  has  not  the  Consumption  she  will  have  it 

befor  long. suggests  getting  Dr.  D.  Jayne's  Expectorant  for  her. 

But  perhaps  you  may  know  something  that  may  answer  for  her  case 
as  well  or  better. 

Kesiah  suffering  much  from  cessation  of  the  menses.  She 
has  not  been  able  to  do  anything  for  more  than  three  months.  I 
wish  you  could  send  up  some  pineroyal  Herb  which  would  be  useful 
for  her,  and  do  good  to  some  others.  Also  we  wants  sage.  I  can  not 
get  a  bit  of  it  here.  It  was  all  killed  by  the  high  water.  Send  too 
some  Lineca  Snakeroot.  We  still  have  a  good  deal  of  Ague  here.  Old 
Bill  is  getting  much  better,  and  there  appears  to  be  a  cessation  of 
worms.  Matilda  not  so  well,  has  running  of  the  ears  and  says  she 
still  feels  the  working  of  the  worms.  Many  of  the  Negroes  have  sore 
heads,  I  have  the  head  penciled  with  Iodine,  and  they  are  getting 
better  of  the  disease.  —  I  want  to  use  for  Delphy  Tartar  eunnitic 
ointment.  We  have  none  here,  please  send  me  some. 

November  20,  1862  The  sick  are  getting  better.  Black  Bill,  who  was 
attacked  with  Pneumonia,  is  at  present  out  of  danger.  The  14th  of 
this  month  at  half  past  eleven  O'Clock  AM.  Sarah  was  delivered  of 
a  Daughter,  which  she  calls  Jane. 

December  8,  1862.  Old  Bill  not  yet  being  able  to  do  any  work.  Aunt 
Philis  in  suffering  from  a  cold.  Black  Bill  of  an  attack  of  Plurisy. 
Some  few  have  the  Chills.  But  most  all  in  general  are  on  the  mend. 
Violet  was  delivered  the  10th  this  month,  of  a  female  chile  (not  yet 
named). 

December  22,  1862.  Black  Bill  is  very  sick  with  the  typhoid  feaver.  The 
Dr.  says  Bill  must  have  some  Whiskey.  Please  send  Jack  back  as 
soon  as  possible  with  the  Whiskey.  .  .  .  Barhan  is  suffering  from  an 
attack  of  Enflamation  of  the  stomach  and  Bowels  —  Do  not  send  me 


71.  Melvin  to  Britton,  October  10,  1862,  Britton  Papers. 

72.  Britton  Papers. 

37 


any  rum.  Dr.  W  says  it  is  not  good,  that  he  wants  Whiskey.  (I 
suppose  Brandy  might  do.) 

January  1,  1863.  Jane,  Sarah's  baby  died  suddenly  on  the  19th.  She 

was  never  well.  _  _  thought  that  she  was  not  well  formed.  .  .  . 
Nearly  all  on  the  place  have  had  colds.  Cases  of  Ague  still  continue. 
.  .  .  For  the  Negroes  I  used  all  the  quine  you  sent,  and  cannot  keep 
the  chills  off.  They  always  return  again  in  a  short  time.  I  do  not 
like  to  see  too  many  confined  to  their  houses  with  Ague  fever  and 
must  beg  you  to  try  to  procure  if  possible  some  quinine.  Of 
Medicines  most  needed,  we  are  now  out.  Such  as  Calomel  Morphine, 
Spirito  Camphor,  Rlum  Hire  Syrup,  Sena  Manna  Oil  —  (Be  good 
enough  to  get  for  me  a  bottle  of  Prof.  Haskel's  Electric  Oil,  1  Bottle 
Dr.  D  Jayne's  Expectorant,  2  Boxes  of  Dr.  D.  Jayne's  Sanative 
Pills).  Ten  or  11  unable  to  work  out,  But  no  one  dangerously  ill. 

February  11,  1863.  In  my  last  letter,  I  told  you  Black  Bill  was  most 
well.  He  did  get  well,  asked  to  go  to  work,  but  I  would  not  let  him 
go  thinking  it  more  prudent  he  should  stay  in  a  while  longer.  I  was 
astonished  when  on  Thursday  he  came  to  me  early  in  the  morning 
again  sick.  Complained  of  violent  pains  in  the  stomac  and  bowels, 
which  symptoms.  I  took  to  be  inflamation.  I  administered 
accordingly,  and  sent  for  the  Docter  who  was  not  at  home  having 
gone  somewhere  on  business.  I  had  to  do  the  best  I  could,  stayed 
with  Bill  all  the  time.  When  he  got  easy  I  saw  plainly  that 
mortification  had  taken  place  and  that  he  must  die.  He  breathed 
his  last  on  Saturday  the  31st  of  Jan  about  8  O'Clock  in  the 
morning. 


Slaves  on  Britton's  Eutaw  plantation  had  to  cope,  clearly,  with  horrible  health  problems 
for  which  there  seemed  to  be  no  easy  remedy;  ill  health  was  often  compounded,  moreover, 
by  the  lack  of  appropriate  medicines,  which  were  considered  expensive  costs  of  production 
not  to  be  used,  according  to  Britton's  instructions,  unless  absolutely  needed.  Britton's 
overseer,  laboring  under  such  economic  constraints,  felt  it  necessary  to  reassure  his 
employer  of  his  good  efforts  on  behalf  of  the  slaves  under  his  care: 

I  takes  the  best  care  I  can  of  the  Negroes.  Have  wood  and  water  hauled  for 
them.  Do  not  let  them  work  out  in  the  rain.  Those  who  have  no  shoes  do  not 
go  out  until  the  dew  or  frost  is  off.  I  go  to  see  the  sick  at  all  times  and 
administer  the  medicines.'3 

And  perhaps  he  did,  but  it  is  difficult  to  read  the  correspondence  without  imagining  the 
plantation  to  have  been  a  filthy  place,  literally  swarming  with  maggot-producing  flies. 
Whatever  the  cause,  however,  the  overall  incidents  of  slave  illness  were  never  so  chronic, 
on  Eutaw  or  anywhere  else,  as  to  shut  down  operations.  Indeed,  Eutaw's  slaves  managed 
to  work  in  such  miserable  and  sickly  conditions  partly  because  of  the  limited  demands 
required  of  them  in  plantation  toil,  but  mainly  because  none  had  any  real  choice  in  the 
matter.  The  backbreaking  and  health-wrecking  work  of  ploughing,  hoeing,  ditching. 


13      Melvin  to  Britten.  December  26.  1862,  Britton  papers. 

38 


shucking,  and  picking  could  be  done  by  lame,  ignorant,  and  sickly  slaves  in  a  fashion 
acceptable  to  most  planters. 


TOWN  SLAVES 

Although  slaves  made  up  nearly  50  percent  of  the  population  in  Natchez  in  1860,  they 
represented  a  small  minority  of  the  total  slaves  in  Adams  County.  Indeed,  only  about  15 
percent  of  the  slaves  in  the  county  lived  in  Natchez  in  1860,  in  comparison  to  76  percent 
of  the  county's  whites.  The  life  of  the  town  slave,  in  other  words,  was  not  the  typical  life 
experience  for  slaves  in  the  region.74  (Table  5  below  shows  the  relative  population  figures 
for  the  town  in  the  generation  preceding  the  Civil  War.) 

What  did  these  town  slaves  do?  Where  did  they  live?  Who  owned  them?  The  answers  to 
these  questions  remain  largely  unknown  and  await  detailed  analysis  of  the  manuscript 
census  schedules  wherein  can  be  determined  occupations,  residences,  origins,  and  gender 
of  the  men  and  women  who  owned  Natchez  slaves.  Some  inferences,  nevertheless,  can  be 
made  on  the  basis  of  our  general  knowledge  of  the  town's  economy.  In  the  first  place, 
Natchez  was  a  market  town  exporting  between  50,000  to  75,000  bales  of  cotton  each  year. 
These  mountains  of  cotton  had  to  be  conveyed,  stacked,  and  loaded  at  the  docks  in  work 
that  required  strong  backs  above  all  else.  Much  of  this  labor  was  performed  by  plantation 
slaves  who  accompanied  the  wagons  of  cotton  to  town.  Much  of  the  work  also  fell  on  local 
slaves  hired  as  dockhands  by  cotton  merchants  and  boat  captains.  Secondly,  the  town 
contained  nearly  600  buildings  in  1840,  an  increase  from  300  in  1809;  and  dozens  of 
mansions  and  assorted  dependency  buildings  ringed  the  town  on  nearby  estates.  All  of 
these  edifices  required  massive  amounts  of  unskilled  labor  to  dig  foundations,  hoist  bricks, 
and  haul  timber  and  building  materials.  In  addition,  Natchez  streets  were  in  constant 
need  of  repair,  footbridges  required  maintenance,  sewage  runoff  trenches  (the  origins  of 
the  present  day  canal  street)  had  to  be  excavated  and  lined  with  brick,  and  buildings 
damaged  by  fires  and  tornadoes  had  to  be  torn  down  and  hauled  away.  It  is  likely  that 
Natchez  slaves  did  much  of  the  crude  labor  associated  with  building,  maintaining,  and 
rebuilding  the  town.75 


74.  U.S.  Census  (1860),  Manuscript  Population  and  Slave  Schedules,  Adams  County,  Mississippi. 

75.  Ronald  L.F.  Davis,  Good  and  Faithful  Labor:  From  Slavery  to  Sharecropping  in  the  Natchez  District. 
1860-1890  (Westport,  Conn.,  1982),  pp.  1-58;  Joseph  Holt  Ingraham,  The  SouthWest  By  A  Yankee,  (New  York, 
N.Y.,  1953),  II,  pp.  18-22;  D.  Clayton  James,  Antebellum  Natchez  (Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1968);  Edith  Wyatt  Moore, 
Natchez  Under-The  Hill  (Natchez,  Miss.,  1958);  Major  Steve  Power,  The  Memento:  Old  and  New  Natchez 
1700-1897,  2  vols.  (Natchez,  Miss.  1984). 

39 


Table  5.    Population  in  Natchez 


1840  1850  1860 

Whites                          2,995  2,710  4,272 

Free  Blacks                    205  213  208 

Slaves                           1,625  1,511  2,132 


Source:  U.S.  Census  (1860,  1850,  1840),  Manuscript  Population  and 
Slave  Schedules,  Adams  County,  Mississippi. 


Natchez  shops,  offices,  and  taverns  also  needed  unskilled  hands  for  countless  jobs  from 
running  errands  to  sweeping  sidewalks,  from  slopping  out  latrines  to  hauling  water  for 
baths.  The  extant  diary  of  the  free  black  barber,  William  Johnson,  is  replete  with 
indications  of  just  how  useful  his  unskilled  slaves  were  around  the  shop.'6  The  proud 
proprietor  of  the  new  City  Hotel  boasted,  in  1858,  of  his  competent  staff  of  slaves  whom 
he  had  raised  himself."  Many  of  the  whites  who  lived  in  Natchez  kept  slaves  as  personal 
servants,  household  domestics,  washerwomen,  and  carriage  drivers.  Our  best  student  of 
the  subject,  historian  John  Hebron  Moore,  suggests  that  perhaps  the  majority  of  Natchez 
slaves  worked  as  domestics  and  in  petty  retail  business  establishments.78 

A  few  town  slaves,  although  never  a  substantial  number,  hired  out  their  labor  for  wages 
on  contracts  established  by  their  masters.  The  terms  of  employment  could  range  from  a 
day's  labor  to  a  month's  work,  or  even  longer  periods  of  time;  but  the  array  of  jobs 
performed  were  quite  limited.  A  young  hireling,  for  example,  was  kept  on  the  payroll  at 
City  Hall  for  odd  jobs.  One  local  resident  advertized  in  the  newspaper  for  an  old  black 
slave  to  do  light  yard  work.  Another  Natchez  citizen  sought  a  meat,  bread,  and  pastry 
cook.  Washerwomen,  housecleaners,  and  woodchoppers  were  always  needed.  Lumberyards 
hired  hands  by  the  day  for  unloading  flatboats.  Banks  used  hired  slaves  as  doormen  and 
porters.  Doctors,  including  those  at  the  U.S.  Marine  hospital,  employed  slaves  as  nurses, 
laundresses,  and  attendants  of  every  sort.  And  town  slaves  drove  carriages  as  hired 
draymen,  paying  their  owners  a  portion  of  their  earnings.'9 


76.  See  the  following  for  materials  on  Johnson:  Edwin  Adams  Davis  and  William  Ransom  Hogan,  The  Barber 
of  Natchez  (Baton  Rouge.  La..  1954,  1973V  Davis  and  Hogan,  (ed.),  William  Johnson's  Natchez:  The  Ante- 
Belium  Diar,'  of  a  Free  Negro.  Volumes  I  and  II  (Baton  Rouge.  La..  1951);  The  William  Johnson  Familv 
Papers.  LSI 

77.  Natchez  Weekly  Courier,  March  24.  1858. 

78      Moore.  The  Emergence  of  the  Cotton  Kingdom  in  the  Old  Southicest,  pp.  257-285. 

79.  Mississippi  Free-Trader,  January  7.  1846;  February  5.  1846;  August  19,  1854:  March  3,  1855;  March  12, 
1856;  Natchrr  Weekly  Courier.  January  13.  1858;  April  28.  1858:  August  18.  1858;  October  29.  1858;  Februarv 
16.  1859. 

■1(1 


The  question  left  unanswered,  however,  is  to  what  extent  did  Natchez  slaves  work  as 
skilled  artisans,  mechanics,  and  craftsmen?  That  some  did  is  clear.  One  of  the  largest 
slaveowners  in  Natchez  was  lumber  man  Andrew  Brown.  His  mills  located  at  Natchez- 
Under-the-Hill  employed  dozens  of  slaves  at  occupations  ranging  from  skilled  blacksmiths 
to  foremen  of  work  gangs.  One  slave  in  particular,  Washington  Gray,  supervised  much  of 
Brown's  river  business,  captaining  lumber  boats  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo  River  on 
voyages  under  his  charge.  But  while  Brown  certainly  employed  skilled  slaves  at  the  mills, 
and  used  some  slaves  in  supervisory  roles  similar  to  slave  drivers  on  the  plantation,  most 
of  the  blacks  who  worked  for  him  were  unskilled  lumber  hands.  No  black  sawyers,  for 
example,  the  most  skilled  job  in  the  yards,  were  ever  trained,  or  hired,  to  man  the  blades 
as  precision  cutters. 

Brown'  s  use  of  slaves  instead  of  white  wage  hands  was  not  surprising.  On  the  one  hand, 
white  loggers,  boatmen,  and  draymen  were  never  a  surplus  population  in  the  town.  In 
addition,  a  careful  businessman  would  have  found  slaves  both  reliable  (meaning  they  could 
be  worked  longer  hours  and  were  always  available)  and  valuable.  Slaves  might  run  away, 
but  usually  they  would  be  captured  to  work  again  another  day.  No  slave  could  quit;  and 
no  free  worker  could  enhance  Brown's  portfolio  as  a  capitalized  asset.  Given  the  choice 
between  using  white  workers,  skilled  or  unskilled,  and  buying  a  slave  to  do  the  same  job, 
most  Natchez  businessmen  would  have  preferred  to  buy  a  slave. 

Appropriate  to  the  above  logic,  there  should  have  emerged  a  recognizable  group  of  skilled 
craftsmen  among  the  slave  population  in  Natchez.  The  editor  of  the  Mississippi  Free 
Trader,  himself  the  owner  of  two  slaves,  suggested  as  much  when  he  complained  about  the 
South's  use  of  slave  artisans  to  the  detriment  of  its  white  workmen:  "...  slaves  of  the 
South.  .  .  are  our  mechanics,  carpenters,  smiths,  wagons  and  plough  makers,  sawyers, 
millers,  ginners,  etc."  There  is  little  hard  evidence  to  substantiate  such  a  claim  for 
Natchez,  although  many  of  the  town's  white  craftsmen  owned  slaves.  l 

Slave  traders,  to  be  sure,  frequently  ran  notices  about  their  slave  carpenters,  blacksmiths, 
mechanics,  and  engineers,  but  such  advertisements  were  probably  not  taken  at  face  value. 
One  typical  notice  in  a  Natchez  newspaper  called  attention  to  a  multi-skilled  slave  for  sale 
in  the  following  words:  "A  likely  negro  man,  about  27  years  old;  a  good  cook,  white  washer; 
has  been  a  cook  on  a  steamboat  and  is  altogether  a  mechanical  genius."  And  perhaps  he 
was;  it  is  more  likely,  however,  that  the  slave  in  question  was  but  a  talented  jack-of-all- 
trades.82 

More  to  the  point  was  the  experience  of  planter  Haller  Nutt,  the  owner  and  builder  of 
Longwood.  A  wealthy  Natchez  planter,  Nutt  decided  to  erect  a  spectacular  octagonal- 
shaped  mansion  about  a  mile  and  a  half  out  of  Natchez  to  the  southeast  on  the  Woodville 
Road.  Because  the  Civil  War  interrupted  the  mansion's  completion,  the  project  came  to  be 


80.  Moore,  Andrew  Brown  and  Cypress  Lumbering  in  the  Old  Southwest  (Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1967);  "Simon 
Gray,  Riverman:  A  Slave  Who  Was  Almost  Free."  Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Review  XLIX  (1962),  pp.  223- 
238;  Andrew  Brown  Papers,  MDAH,  (see  especially  Brown's  Diary,  Time  Books,  and  Ledgers,  1840-1854). 

81.  Ibid.;  Mississippi  Free-Trader,  May  5,  1855;  May  23,  1855. 

82.  Natchez  Weekly  Courier,  August  17,  1859. 

41 


known  as  "Nutt's  Folly"  among  the  local  population.  In  time,  however,  the  unfinished 
structure  was  recognized  to  be  the  largest  and  most  elaborate  of  the  octagon  houses  — 
reflective  of  the  Oriental  Revival  style  that  flourished  in  the  mid- 19th  century  —  ever  built 
in  the  United  States.83 

Briefly  told,  Nutt  engaged  a  Philadelphia  architect  to  design  the  house,  a  Philadelphia 
builder  to  supervise  construction,  local  white  brickmakers  to  produce  754,000  bricks,  four 
expert  Philadelphia  bricklayers,  a  Philadelphia  master  carpenter,  a  Philadelphia  tinner, 
and  Andrew  Brown's  lumber  mill  for  cutting  the  planks  and  boards  to  be  used  in  the 
building's  joists,  rafters,  scaffolding,  and  laths.  One  hundred  and  twenty-eight  window 
frames,  106  columns  and  pilasters,  156  brackets,  and  7,700  feet  of  cypress  moulding,  tin 
for  the  roof,  tons  of  slate  for  floors  and  basement  walls,  and  lime  for  stuccoing  the  walls 
were  all  produced  in  Philadelphia  and  sent  by  water  to  Natchez.  A  crew  of  Philadelphia 
craftsmen  were  in  the  process  of  producing  blinds,  sashes,  doors,  and  staircases  when  the 
Civil  War  brought  construction  at  Longwood  to  a  halt.84  The  skilled  Philadelphia  workers 
had  completed  the  exterior  of  the  32-room  mansion  except  for  the  stuccoing  of  its 
brickwork,  the  installation  of  the  exterior  stair,  and  the  glazing  in  of  some  of  the  windows 
on  the  upper  floors.  Nutt  then  used  his  slaves  to  finish  off  the  eight-room  basement, 
installing  a  floor  and  plastering  the  interior  walls.  Hoping  for  the  best,  Nutt  moved  his 
family  into  the  slave-finished  basement  to  await  the  War's  outcome.85 

For  our  purposes,  the  correspondence  between  Nutt  and  his  Philadelphia  builder  reveal 
much  about  what  was  probably  a  typical  use  of  slaves  in  Natchez  construction.  On 
February  3,  1860,  Nutt  wrote  to  Sloan  of  his  plans  for  Longwood: 

My  idea  of  preparation  is  to  take  10  or  12  men  down  early  in  April  and  my 
carpenter  also  to  go  to  work  preparing  —  that  is  removing  old  furniture, 
tearing  down  house  and  removing  the  rubbish  and  get  at  work  on  the 
foundation  so  as  to  have  something  down  before  you  come. 

A  week  later  he  wrote: 

I  will  go  to  Natchez  tomorrow  —  take  painter  and  carpenter  to  fix  up 
outhouse  for  my  family  and  we  go  down  in  March  so  as  to  remove  things 
from  the  old  house  and  get  ready  for  carpenters  to  take  it  down.  I  will  then 
take  down  20  men  to  cut  wood,  prepare  brick  yard  —  to  go  to  making  so  as 
to  finish  brick  making  by  first  of  June.86 


See  the  diary  of  Haller  Nutt  as  found  in  Merle  C.  Nutt.  The  Nutt  Family  Through  the  Years  (Phoenix, 
Ariz.,  1973).  pp.  93-137;  see  also  assorted  materials  on  the  building  of  Longwood  in  the  Longwood  Files  of  the 
Historic-  Natchez  Foundation.  Natchez,  Mississippi. 


84  Ibid. 

85  Ibid 
86.     Ibid. 

42 


Nutt  confided  to  his  wife  a  few  days  later  that  he  had  laid  out  the  brickyard  and  hired  a 
local,  white  brickmaker  to  make  the  bricks.  On  March  23,  1860,  Nutt  spoke  of  having  his 
"mechanics  in  the  grounds  .  .  .  taking  down  the  old  house."87 

By  the  end  of  March,  still  awaiting  the  arrival  of  his  skilled  Philadelphia  workers,  Nutt 
sent  a  letter  to  Sloan  laying  out  the  state  of  his  preparation  work  and  warning  him  of  a 
potential  problem  in  working  whites  and  blacks  together: 

I  will  now  be  ready  for  the  workmen  whenever  they  come  but  would  want 
you  to  be  here  to  consult  about  the  exact  location  of  the  house  and  digging 
out  the  Foundation  and  starting  the  wells.  There  will  be  two  cisterns  in  the 
way  of  the  wells. 

I  would  like  to  call  your  attention  to  one  point  in  having  my  Negro 
mechanics  to  work  with  white  ones.  White  mechanics  are  usually 
accustomed  to  work  so  many  hours  a  day.  Whereas  we  cannot  adjust  that 
custom  with  our  negroes.  The  only  spare  time  they  have  is  at  breakfast  and 
in  the  middle  of  the  day,  some  two  hours  or  so. 

I  have  men  engaged  in  digging  out  the  Foundation  and  still  taking  down  the 
old  house.  I  have  my  hands  full  attending  to  all  the  various  matters  .  .  .  ,88 

The  point  of  these  excerpts  should  be  clear:  Nutt  used  his  black  slaves,  whom  he  often 
referred  to  as  carpenters  and  mechanics,  as  unskilled  laborers  in  tearing  down  buildings, 
preparing  brickyards,  and  digging  foundations.  Little  evidence  supports  the  idea  that  Nutt 
valued  any  of  his  slaves  as  truly  skilled  laborers.  For  skilled  work,  Nutt  used  local 
craftsmen  and  imported  artisans.  Only  when  Nutt  had  no  choice  did  he  resort  to  using 
slaves  in  finished  work. 

If  Longwood's  construction  is  a  good  example,  the  fifty  to  eighty  estate  mansions  erected 
in  and  around  antebellum  Natchez  were  probably  not  the  products  of  skilled  slaves.  This 
is  not  to  say  that  there  were  no  skilled  slave  builders  in  Natchez,  or  that  no  slave  masters 
allowed  their  slaves  to  acquire  such  skills.  Rather,  it  is  to  suggest  that  skilled  slaves  were 
not  the  norm.  Exactly  why  this  was  the  case  is  difficult  to  know.  Perhaps  it  had  to  do  with 
the  opposition  of  local  white  artisans.  Perhaps  it  was  because  of  the  perceived  (or  actual) 
incompatibility  of  slavery  with  truly  skilled  work.  Perhaps  it  was  a  question  of  status,  with 
white  craftsmen  lending  a  note  of  prestige  to  mansion  building.  Whatever  the  reasons, 
there  is  little  evidence  to  support  the  contention  that  a  significant  number  of  Natchez 
slaves  functioned,  on  the  eve  of  the  Civil  War,  as  highly  skilled  workers. 


87.  Ibid. 

88.  Ibid. 

43 


ESTATE  SLAVES 

Surrounding  the  town  of  Natchez  was  a  plantation  neighborhood  so  conspicuous  as  to  have 
ranked  with  Charleston  and  New  Orleans  in  the  scale  and  opulence  of  its  material  culture. 
Students  of  Natchez  history  contend  that  district  planters  ranked  among  the  richest  slave 
masters  in  the  South  as  well  as  among  —  in  several  cases  —  the  nation's  wealthiest 
citizens.  Families  like  the  Minors,  Duncans,  Metcalfs,  Mercers,  Bislands,  Elliots,  Surgets, 
McMurrans,  Quitmans,  the  Davis  brothers,  Stantons,  and  Nutts,  to  name  just  a  few, 
thought  of  Natchez  as  but  an  extension  of  their  estate  households.  It  was  their  practice 
and  goal  in  life  to  amass  substantial  fortunes  that  could  be  displayed  in  lavish  mansions 
and  country  residences  wherein  they  could  partake  of  all  the  amenities  afforded  the  truly 
wealthy.  Theirs  was  a  lifestyle  replete  with  horse  racing,  carriage  rides,  parties,  elaborate 
marriage  ceremonies,  church  goings,  hunts,  feasting,  travels,  gardening,  and  estate 
building.89 

The  practice  of  ostentatious  living  originated  early  in  the  district's  history.  The  first 
Spanish  governor  of  Natchez,  Manuel  Gayoso  de  Lemos,  set  the  pace  when  he  enthroned 
himself  in  a  grand  domicile  (named  "Concord"  in  recognition  of  the  good  relations  he  hoped 
to  encourage  between  Natchez  citizens  and  his  government)  furnished  with  fine  European 
trappings  and  delicate  dress.  A  sort  of  Natchez  mentality  thereafter  drove  its  planter  elite 
to  erect  one  stately  mansion  after  another.  Concord  was  followed  by  Gloucester,  the  home 
of  the  first  American  governor  of  Mississippi,  and  dozens  of  would-be  Concords,  with 
names  like  Clifton,  Elgin,  Melrose,  Montebello,  Elmscourt,  Linden,  Richmond,  Sommerset, 
Ingleside,  The  Briars,  Dunleith,  Stanton  Hall,  and  on  and  on.  The  wife  of  a  Yankee  officer 
stationed  in  Natchez  during  the  Civil  War  recalled  there  being  forty  grand  mansions  in 
the  Natchez  vicinity  -  -  houses  "built  on  the  most  beautiful  lines  of  architecture,  with 
broad  verandas  or  galleries  supported  by  noble  columns."  She  had  probably 
underestimated  the  number  by  half.90 

At  times  the  pace  of  construction  was  almost  feverish,  especially  in  the  1830s  and  1850s. 
Then  hard  times  would  hit,  cyclones  and  tornadoes  would  strike,  fires  would  break  out, 
epidemics  would  sweep  through,  and  the  building  activity  would  trail  off,  only  to  start  up 
with  renewed  frenzy  at  the  first  sign  of  prosperity.  Most  of  the  estates  within  easy  carriage 
journey  of  Natchez  were  relatively  self-sufficient  country  farms,  occupied  by  wealthy 


89.  Sec  Davis.  Good  and  Faithful  Labor,  pp.  1-55;  D.  Clayton  James,  Antebellum  Natchez:  Morton  Rothstein. 
"The  Antebellum  South  as  a  Dual  Economy:  A  Tentative  Hypothesis,"  Agricultural  Histow  XL  (October  1967). 
pp   .373-82. 

90.  Matilda  Gresham.  Life  of  Walter  Quintm  Gresham:  1832-1895.  2  vols.  (Chicago.  111.,  19101.  I,  p.  245:  Jack 
D  I.    Holmes.  Gayoso:    The  Life  of  a  Spanish  Governor  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  1789-1799  (Baton  Rouge, 

Harnett  T.  Kane.  Natchez  on  the  Mississippi  (New  York.  N.Y..  19471;  Morton  Rothstein.  "The  Natchez 
Nabobs  Kinship  and  Friendship  in  an  Economic  Elite."  in  Hans  Trefousse.  (ed).  Essays  in  Honor  of  Arthur 
New  York,  NY.  1977).  pp.  97-1 12;  Mack  Swearingen.  "Luxury  at  Natchez  in  1801:  A  Ship's  Manifest 
From  TheMcDonogh  Papers."  The  Journal  of  Southern  History  HI  (1937),  pp.  188-190:  in  addition  to  the  above 
sources.  The  Historic  Natchez  Foundation,  located  in  Natchez,  has  descriptive  historical  files  on  nearly  all  of 
the  antebellum  houses  in  and  around  Natchez.  Most  of  the  material  in  these  Tiles  has  been  authored  by  Ms. 
Mimi  Miller,  a  historical  preservationist  and  architectural  historian  associated  with  the  Foundation  and  the 
Mississippi  State  Department  of  Archives  and  History. 

44 


"nabobs"  —  men  and  women  who  enjoyed  living  close  to  town  for  business  reasons  and  to 
better  partake  in  the  sheer  pleasure  of  one  another's  company.91 

Many  of  the  estate  mansions  in  suburban  Natchez  had  evolved  out  of  pioneer  plantations, 
their  cropped-out  cotton  fields  given  over  to  corn,  vegetables,  fruit  trees,  and  park-like 
forest  playgrounds.  Others  were  simply  showcase  homes  on  property  carved  from  older 
estate  grounds  by  sons  and  daughters  in  emulation  of  honored  and  wealthy  parents. 
Almost  all  of  the  estates  contained  gardens,  ponds,  terraces,  orchards,  livestock  corrals, 
smokehouses,  dairy  sheds,  hot-houses,  carriage  barns,  kitchen  buildings,  servant  quarters, 
tool  cribs,  hen-houses,  cisterns,  and  dog  kennels.  Many  were  second  generation  additions 
to  cruder  dwellings  or  replacement  homes  for  mansions  lost  in  fires  and  damaged  by 
storms.92 

Estates  ranged  from  small  cottages,  set  among  three  or  four  acres,  to  many  roomed,  multi- 
storied  mansions  located  amid  properties  of  several  hundred  acres.  Melrose,  for  example, 
built  by  John  McMurran,  in  the  mid- 1840s,  spread  over  some  106  acres  whereas 
neighboring  Monmouth  contained  but  thirty-one.  D'Evereaux's  eighty  acres  included 
twelve  planted  in  gardens.  Each  place  was  in  fact  a  household,  wherein  resided  the 
estate's  wealthy  patriarch  and  his  sons,  daughters,  wife,  and  slaves,  intertwined  within 
a  network  of  similar  households.  Carriage  paths  and  footways  connected  the  estates  to  one 
another  for  easy  access  by  slaves  running  countless  numbers  of  errands  and  by 
slaveholders  afoot  on  business  and  social  doings.  The  'nabobs"  looked  after  one  another's 
properties,  intermarried,  voyaged  near  and  far  together,  shared  tutors  and  schoolhouses, 
and  worshipped  in  unison  at  Natchez  churches.  They  partook,  moreover,  of  an  array  of 
social  events  (weddings,  funerals,  birthdays,  baptism  celebrations,  anniversaries,  and 
visits)  that  fostered  a  sense  of  community,  a  bent  of  mind  appropriately  described  as 
paternalistic,  and  a  commitment  to  slavery  as  the  ideal  foundation  for  civilized  and 
gracious  living. 

Whatever  they  represented  to  the  white  families  who  owned  them,  the  slaveholding  estates 
meant  something  else  to  the  blacks  who  maintained  them.  It  is  difficult  to  know  precisely 
how  many  blacks  fell  into  the  category  of  the  estate  slave  in  Natchez.  A  place  the  size  of 
Melrose  needed  a  staff  of  servants  that  could  easily  have  numbered  a  dozen  or  more.  The 


91.  Ibid.;  see  also  Ingraham,  2  vols.  The  South  West  By  A  Yankee,  II,  pp.  27-96;  Charles  Lyell,  A  Second  Visit 
to  The  United  States  of  North  America:    1845-1846,  2  vols.  (London,  1850),  I,  p.  199. 

92.  Ibid.;  see  also  the  unpublished  memoirs  of  Louisa  Russel  Conner,  1905,  p.  1,  Historic  Natchez  Foundation, 
Natchez,  Mississippi. 

93.  Ibid.;  see  especially  the  numerous  estate  files  of  the  Historic  Natchez  Foundation.  In  addition,  the 
Quitman  Family  Papers  housed  at  LSU,  MDAH,  and  the  Southern  Historical  Collection  of  the  University  of 
North  Carolina  are  filled  with  examples  of  how  estate  slaves  on  the  Monmouth,  Linden,  and  Melrose  estates 
functioned  as  retainers  in  the  ways  described  above.  In  an  undated  note,  one  of  the  women  at  Melrose,  Fanny 
McMurran,  wrote  the  following  to  her  cousin,  Louisa  Quitman,  at  Monmouth:  "My  Dear  Cousin:  Having  just 
moved  out  here,  all  hands  are  as  busy  as  can  be-  so  it  will  not  be  convenient  for  sister  to  send  me  today  in  her 
carriage.  As  you  owe  Maria  Duncan  a  visit,  suppose  we  go  in  yours?  If  you  will  go,  please  send  over  for  me 
at  half  past  ten.  Fanny.  Write  me  by  this  bearer."  Quitman  Family  Papers,  LSU.  See  also:  Robert  E.  May, 
"John  A.  Quitman  and  His  Slaves:  Reconciling  Slave  Resistance  with  the  Proslavery  Defense,"  The  Journal 
of  Southern  History  XLVI  (November  1980),  pp.  551-570;  the  Diary  of  A.  Rosalie  Quitman,  1852-1872,  Quitman 
Family  Papers,  SHC,  The  University  of  North  Carolina,  Chapel  Hill,  North  Carolina  (hereafter  cited  as  SHC). 

45 


1850  manuscript  slave  schedule  listed  23  slaves  owned  by  John  T.  McMurran,  the  master 
of  Melrose.  Eight  of  these  slaves  were  children  under  the  age  of  twelve.  Haller  Nutt 
planned  on  keeping  sixty  slaves  on  his  Longwood  estate.  The  Quitman  family  owned 
seventeen  slaves  in  1840,  forty-six  in  1850,  and  twenty-six  in  1860,  most  of  whom  were 
probably  at  Monmouth.  At  least  one  head  cook,  one  dining  room  servant,  two  domestics, 
one  driver,  and  two  yard  men  were  the  bare  minimum  required  to  maintain  the  typical 
estate  household.  Although  precise  figures  await  detailed  analysis  of  plantation  records, 
estate  documents,  wills,  manuscript  census,  and  tax  returns,  the  number  of  estate  slaves 
in  the  Natchez  neighborhood  probably  totaled  in  the  hundreds,  and  possibly  in  the 
thousands.94 

Among  the  categories  of  estate  slaves  were  four  principal  ones:  housekeepers,  groundsmen, 
personal  servants,  and  drivers.  In  the  first  group  were  those  men  and  women  who  worked 
at  keeping  the  household  and  its  white  members  clean,  warm,  dry,  cool,  and  fed.  Black 
men,  women,  and  children  labored  as  individuals  and  families  in  general  domestic  work 
that  usually  kept  them  on  their  toes  eighteen  hours  a  day.  Chores  included  preparing  and 
serving  meals,  washing  clothes  and  bed  materials,  airing  closets  and  trunks,  polishing 
silver,  washing  dishes,  drawing  baths,  emptying  slop  jars,  darning  socks  and  sewing 
buttons,  hanging  clothes  on  lines  and  bushes,  spinning  and  weaving,  quilting,  soapmaking, 
and  attending  to  the  countless  household  wants  of  their  masters  and  mistresses.95 

Estate,  domestic  slaves  usually  included  several  slave  children  brought  into  the  household 
at  a  young  age  in  order  to  be  "properly"  raised.  These  black  youngsters  frequently  started 
out  as  playmates  to  the  white  children.  In  time,  the  slave  children  would  become  nurses, 
dairy  maids,  and  dining  room  servants.  One  ex-slave  recalled  her  youth  in  typical  fashion 
in  a  WPA  interview  in  the  1930s: 

When  I  was  a  little  thing  dey  dressed  me  in  little  checkedy  slips  wid  strings 
in  de  necks,  an'  I  wore  aprons  what  tied  in  de  back  wid  strings.  Dey  didn't 
never  set  me  no  heavy  tasks.  I  et  anything  my  folks  et.  Dey  fed  me  from  dey 
table  aftah  dey  had  finished  and  gone  from  de  table.  I  slept  in  de  big  house 
till  I  was  nearly  grown  an'  I  nebber  done  no  fiel'  wuk.  I  jus  waited  on  de 
table  and  nussed  de  baby.  I  would  dress  de  baby  up  all  purty  an'  keep  hits 
little  clo'es  clean.96 


94.  The  1840  Census  for  Adams  County  listed  fourteen  slaves  owned  by  John  T.  McMurran  in  the  town  of 
Natchez.  This  was  prior  to  McMurran's  construction  of  his  suburban  Melrose  estate.  The  1850  manuscript 
census  shows  two  slave  holdings  for  McMurran:  the  23  slaves  undoubtedly  attached  to  Melrose,  and  another 
78  slaves  owned  jointly  by  McMurran  and  James  Carson,  McMurran's  law  partner.  See  Elizabeth  M.  Boggess 
and  J.  R.  Billings,  "An  Archaeological  Survey  of  'Monmouth,'"  unpublished  report,  Monmouth  File.  Historic 
Natchez  Foundation;  Melrose  File.  Historic  Natchez  Foundation;  Longwood  File,  Historic  Natchez  Foundation; 
Nutt,  The  Nutt  Family  Through  the  Years;  F.G.  Skinner,  "A  Southern  Sportsman  Forty  Years  Ago,  "Chicago 
Field  (March  5,  1881);  U.S.  Census  (1850.  1840,  1830),  Manuscript  Population  and  Slave  Schedules,  Adams 
County  Mississippi. 

95.  Ibid. 

96.  Rawick.  Mississippi  Narratives.  IX.  pp.  1470.  See  also  John  R.  Lynch's  description  of  his  youth  as  a 
house  servant  in  John  Hope  Franklin,  (ed.),  Reminiscences  of  an  Active  Life:  The  Autobiography  of  John  Rev 
Lynch  (Chicago,  111..  19701,  pp.  23-30. 

46 


Groundsmen  were  mainly  yard  men  in  the  sense  of  raking  leaves,  planting  and  cultivating 
vegetables,  setting  out  fruit  and  variety  trees,  pruning  trees  and  trimming  bushes,  caring 
for  poultry  and  livestock,  dredging  fish  ponds,  digging  graves,  whitewashing  sheds  and 
cabins,  washing  windows,  repairing  roads,  digging  cisterns,  slopping  latrines,  and  running 
errands.  On  places  like  Monmouth  or  Magnolia  Vale,  yard  work  bordered  on  being 
horticultural  labor.  Indeed,  there  is  evidence  to  suggest  that  some  planters  employed 
white,  master  gardeners  who  directed  crews  of  yard  slaves  in  sculpting  gardens  similar 
to  English  country  yards.  Brown's  Garden,  for  instance,  located  beneath  the  bluff  and 
adjacent  the  saw  mills  of  the  same  name,  was  quite  famous  for  its  symmetry  and 
detail.9'  Clifton  sprouted  beds  of  exotic  blooms  and  fruit  that  one  observer  thusly 
described: 

As  you  approach  upon  the  broad  carriage  way  that  gracefully  sweeps  past 
the  high  columned  portico,  shaded  by  the  Cypress  &  Magnolia  &  crape 
myrtle  gorgeous  in  its  bloom  &  blooming  always,  your  feet  crackling  over 
the  gravel  &  sea  shells,  now  almost  lost  in  labarynthine  ways,  over  terraces 
&  undiluting  green  sward,  over  rustic  bridges,  through  cool  &  verdurous 
valleys  of  gloria  mundi,  Japan  Plums,  the  live  &  water  oak,  literally  a 
flowery  pathway  of  exotics,  exotics  of  gorgeous  coloring  and  startling 
magnificence,  almost  indigenous  to  the  soil  in  which  they  grow. 

You  return  to  the  house  by  the  orchards  &  cultivated  land  by  the  Green 
house,  hot  house  &  pineries,  a  house  that  cost  a  small  fortune  has  been 
built  to  shelter  a  single  banana  tree  that  grows  within  its  hot  atmosphere 
bears  fruit  &  puts  forth  its  great  green  leaves  three  feet  or  more  in  length. 
Numbers  of  plants  are  clambering  about  the  conservatories,  the  more 
ordinary  beauties  of  the  green  house  and  of  the  parterre  smile  in  boundless 
profusion  &  perfection  of  bloom.  Pines  &  figs  of  three  or  four  varieties, 
Melons  I  should  be  afraid  to  tell  you  how  large  for  you  would  not  credit  me. 
Cantaloupes,  peaches,  pears  &  the  most  delicious  nectarines  are  brought 
fresh  to  the  table  every  day.  Shooting  galleries  &  billiard  rooms  elegantly 
fitted  up  for  ladies  as  well  as  gentlemen  are  placed  in  picturesque  positions 
in  the  grounds  &  gardens.  Stables  &  office  all  concealed,  nothing  to  offend 
the  most  fastidious  taste.  One  continuously  wonders  that  such  a  Paradise 
can  be  made  on  Earth.98 

Such  splendid  gardens  must  have  required  skilled  hands  for  their  cultivation.  But  the 
grounds  of  most  estates  were  more  rustic  than  landscaped,  needing  little  more  than 
weeding,  cutting,  trimming,  and  raking  to  keep  the  owners  satisfied.99 


97.  T.S.  Buckingham,  The  Slave  States  of  America,  2  vols.  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1968,  originally  published  in 
1840),  pp.  447-458;  Adam  Hodgson,  Journey  Through  North  America:  1819,  1820,  1821  (New  York,  N.Y., 
1823),  pp.  170-171;  Lyell,  A  Second  Visit  to  The  United  States  of  North  America:  1845-1846,  I,  pp.  199-200; 
Powers,  The  Memento,  I,  pp.  25-26 

98.  General  Thomas  Kilby  Smith  to  Mrs.  Smith,  July  19,  1863,  Smith  Papers,  Clifton  File,  Historic  Natchez 
Foundation,  Natchez,  Mississippi. 

99.  See  Ingraham,  The  South  West  By  A  Yankee,  II,  p.  81 

47 


Personal  servants  may  be  considered  a  subclass  of  the  domestic  work  group  insofar  as  they 
often  performed  similar  chores.  What  set  them  apart  were  their  special  duties  in  caring 
for  the  household  in  special  ways.  Among  the  slaves  at  Monmouth  plantation,  was  a 
favorite,  named  Harry,  who  accompanied  his  master  to  the  Mexican  War.  Such  personal 
servants  as  Harry  could  be  any  member  of  the  household  favored  by  its  white  residents; 
often  considered  as  friends  as  well  as  servants,  they  were  expected  to  function  as  twenty- 
four-hour  "body"  attendants,  mammies  for  the  white  children,  faithful  pets,  and  protectors 
of  the  household. 10C  "Since  you  left,"  wrote  Rosie  Quitman  to  her  father  in  1855,  two 
or  three  old  soldiers  have  called  to  see  mama.  They  said  that  they  were  well  acquainted 
with  the  general  and  only  wanted  a  little  money.  Harry  had  to  deal  with  these  old  soldiers, 
and  generally  gets  them  off  without  much  trouble."1  1 

Perhaps  most  skilled  of  all  the  estate  slaves  were  the  carriage  hands  and  drivers.  These 
men  carted  their  white  owners  to  town  and  between  households  in  carriages  that  were 
difficult  to  handle  even  on  the  best  of  roads.  Travel  at  night  was  especially  precarious.  In 
addition  to  driving  the  carriage,  the  drivers  usually  looked  after  the  horses  and  did  what 
they  could  to  maintain  their  rigs.  Much  of  the  driver's  time  was  spent  in  waiting  around 
for  the  master  to  depart,  to  finish  his  or  her  business,  and  to  issue  orders.  In  those  cases 
where  the  master  was  a  lady,  slave  drivers  were  expected  to  be  ever  ready  to  service  a 
daily  array  of  social  visits,  message  taking,  shopping,  and  parcel  toting  that  kept  them  on 
the  roads  at  all  hours  of  the  day  and  night.102 

In  comparison  to  the  plantation  slave,  the  estate  slave  enjoyed  a  standard  of  living  that 
was  undoubtedly  enviable  in  some  ways.  Although  they  were  more  at  the  beck  and  call  of 
their  white  masters,  much  of  the  estate  slave's  work  was  done  out  of  sight  and  on  their 
own.  Orders  would  be  given  to  prune  and  trim,  but  seldom  did  the  master  maintain  a 
watchful  eye  over  such  yard  work.  Outside  kitchens,  dairies,  and  hot-houses  were  the 
slave's  domain,  with  relatively  little  immediate  supervision.  Few  drivers  or  overseers 
patrolled  the  estate  grounds  with  whips  in  hand.  Even  nursery  slaves  could  take  their 
charges  to  play  away  from  the  commanding  eyes  of  the  mistress. 

Scattered  among  the  estate  grounds  were  buildings  that  have  come  to  be  known  as 
"dependencies"  —  a  curious  word  used  principally  by  architectural  historians.  For  our 
purposes,  the  term  is  useful  for  highlighting  the  fact  that  the  estate  household  was  indeed 
a  slave  household  rooted  in  the  dependency  of  its  laborers.  Whether  the  big  house  was 
dependent  on  the  outbuildings,  the  whole  dependent  on  its  parts,  the  whites  on  the  blacks, 
or  the  blacks  on  the  whites  (as  most  whites  would  have  believed  at  the  time)  is  less 
relevant  than  the  symbolic  implications  of  the  term  as  one  representative  of  a  social  order 
running  counter  to  notions  of  personal  autonomy  and  unbridled  individualism. 

In  any  case,  among  the  estate  dependencies  on  a  typical  villa  were  the  slave  quarters, 
buildings  strikingly  unlike  those  on  a  working  plantation.  Often,  they  were  brick,  two 


100.     Ibid.,  pp.  252-253 


101.  Rosie  Quitman  to  John  Quitman.  Quitman  Family  Papers.  SHC.  University  of  North  Carolina.  Chapel 
Hill. 

102.  Sec  Ingraham,  The  SouthWest  By  A  Yankee,  II,  p.  204-215. 

48 


stories  high,  trimmed  by  galleries,  and  designed  to  complement  the  aesthetics  of  the  big 
house.  House  slaves  usually  lived  on  the  second  floors,  above  a  first  floor  kitchen  and 
dairy.  Yard  and  garden  slaves  typically  lived  in  plank  houses  set  a  little  farther  back  from 
the  kitchen,  storage,  and  dairy  dependencies.  In  most  cases,  these  dwellings  were  soundly 
constructed  with  finished  floors,  glass  windows,  and  fireplaces.  It  was  not  uncommon  to 
find  well  drained  and  enclosed  privies  on  the  grounds.103 

Not  only  did  estate  slaves  live  in  cleaner  and  more  protected  housing  in  comparison  to 
plantation  slaves,  they  probably  ate  better,  were  more  warmly  clothed,  and  benefited  from 
superior  health  care,  partaking,  most  likely,  in  the  bounty  available  to  the  white 
household.  Even  when  food  was  not  readily  provided,  it  could  be  easily  appropriated. 
Clothes  were  often  hand-me-downs  from  masters  and  mistresses  and  of  far  greater  variety 
than  the  crude  linsey/woolsey  common  in  the  plantation  quarters.  Household  medicines, 
it  can  be  assumed,  were  more  liberally  administered  to  favorite  estate  slaves  in 
comparison  to  the  more  distant  field  hands.  Indeed,  white  slaveholders  seem  to  have 
devoted  significant  time,  if  their  complaints  can  be  believed,  in  ministering  to  sickly 
household  slaves.104 

Did  estate  slaves  have  families?  At  first  glance,  it  would  make  sense  to  assume  they  did 
for  the  same  reasons  that  all  slaves  were  encouraged  to  marry  and  raise  children:  social 
control  and  the  reproduction  of  a  valuable  asset.  Moreover,  slave  children  seemed  to  be 
everywhere  underfoot  on  the  typical  Natchez  estate.  But  whose  children  were  they? 
Leaving  aside  the  issue  of  miscegenation,  questions  can  be  addressed  to  the  different 
components  of  the  estate  servant  class.  Did  yardmen  have  a  family  structure  different 
from  house  servants?  How  did  drivers  compare  to  kitchen  servants  when  it  came  to  being 
married?  Were  all  the  children  on  the  place  —  the  eight  at  Melrose,  for  example  —  the 
offspring  of  estate  slaves,  or  were  they  brought  in  as  house  favorites  for  one  reason  or 
another  regardless  of  who  had  parented  them? 

Perhaps  another  look  at  John  Quitman's  personal  estate  slave,  Old  Harry,  may  be  useful. 
Harry  lived  and  worked  at  Monmouth  while  his  wife  and  children  labored  as  field  hands 
at  Quitman's  distant  Palmyra  plantation.  It  was  a  rare  occasion  for  him  to  visit  his  wife 
or  children,  some  of  whom  worked  on  separate  farms.105  Perhaps  Harry  preferred  this 
arrangement,  or  it  may  have  been  that  Quitman  wanted  Old  Harry  to  be  relatively 
unattached  so  as  to  be  better  able  to  devote  his  full  attention  to  the  Monmouth  household. 
Indeed,  when  a  young  Quitman  first  arrived  in  Natchez  in  1822,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  his 
Yankee  father  that  told  of  how  impressed  he  was  by  the  pampered  treatment  afforded  him 
by  the  slaves  of  a  wealthy  planter  who  would  become  his  father-in-law: 

Cordial  hospitality  is  one  of  the  characteristics  of  the  Southern  people.  Their 
very  servants  catch  the  feeling  of  their  owners,  and  anticipate  one's  wants. 
Your  coffee  in  the  morning  before  sunrise,  little  stews  and  sudorifies  at 


103.  See  Estate  Files,  Historic  Natchez  Foundation,  Natchez,  Mississippi. 

104.  May,  "John  A.  Quitman  and  His  Slaves:    Reconciling  Slave  Resistance  with  the  Proslavery  Defense," 
pp.  551-570. 

105.  Henry  Turner  to  John  Quitman,  November  18,  1853,  Quitman  Family  Papers,  SHC. 

49 


night,  and  warm  footbaths,  if  you  have  a  cold;  bouquets  of  fresh  flowers  and 
mint-juleps  sent  to  your  apartment;  a  horse  and  saddle  at  your  disposal; 
everything  free  and  easy,  and  cheerful  and  cordial.  It  is  really  fascinating, 
and  I  seem  to  be  leading  a  charmed  life  compared  with  my  pilgrimage 
elsewhere.  .  .  ."106 

With  the  master's  every  need  to  be  anticipated  each  moment  of  the  day,  estate  slaves 
would  have  had  little  time  for  spouses  and  children.  Perhaps  "nabobs"  like  Quitman 
reasoned  that  it  would  be  best  for  Old  Harry  and  his  type,  in  view  of  their  duties,  to 
remain  bachelors  and  spinsters  in  effect  if  not  in  fact.  Families  would  only  get  in  the  way 
of  duty. 


106.     John  A.  Quitman  to  Frederick  H.  Quitman.  August  12.  1822.  SHC.  as  quoted  in  Katharine  M.  Jones, 
The  Plantation  South  (Indianapolis.  Ind..  1957),  p.  237. 

50 


THE  FREE  BLACKS  OF  NATCHEZ 


To  be  black  and  free  in  antebellum  Natchez  was  to  have  membership  in  a  caste-like 
community  in  which  the  color  of  your  skin  established  the  parameters  of  your  life. 
Freedom  was  not  the  opposite  of  slavery  unless  you  were  white.  Rather,  free  blacks  were 
"people  of  color,"  a  term  that  limited  their  experiences  both  legally  and  by  social  custom. 
Free  blacks  could  not  vote,  hold  public  office,  testify  against  whites,  serve  on  juries  in 
litigation  involving  whites,  move  around  without  written  and  certified  proof  of  their 
freedom  on  their  persons,  trade  with  whom  they  wished  according  to  the  dictates  of  the 
market,  carry  or  keep  weapons  without  a  license,  or  operate  taverns  or  grocery  stores.  No 
"free  person  of  color,"  moreover,  dared  to  be  a  public  nuisance,  or  too  successful  at  the 
wrong  business,  or  too  friendly  with  the  enslaved  all  around  them  else  they  ran  the  risk 
of  being  flogged,  arrested,  chased  out  of  the  state,  and  even  enslaved. 

Within  these  constraints,  Natchez  free  blacks  were  free  to  conduct  themselves  as  good  and 
faithful  servants  of  the  white  community  in  the  roles  of  skilled  barbers,  hackmen, 
washerwomen,  dressmakers,  hired  hands,  cooks,  nurses,  and  in  other  accommodating 
occupations.  To  the  extent  that  free  blacks  were  tolerated  and  accepted  by  the  white 
community,  they  could,  in  turn,  achieve  some  modicum  of  success  as  property  owners, 
money  lenders,  and  even  slaveholders.  Most  importantly,  the  families  of  free  blacks  could 
not  be  bought  and  sold,  easily  abused,  or  routinely  victimized.  Their  earnings  were  always 
their  own  to  invest  wisely  or  foolishly,  and  most  "free  people  of  color"  could  awake  each 
morning  and  thank  their  good  fortune  (or,  more  likely,  their  fathers  and  lovers)  for  their 
freedom. 

At  any  one  time  in  the  twenty  years  before  the  Civil  War  approximately  200  men,  women, 
and  children  were  members  of  a  Natchez  caste  of  free  blacks.  The  number  ranged  from 
sixty-nine  to  eighty-one  in  the  twenty  years  preceding  1840.  By  1860,  Natchez  free  blacks 
lived  in  thirty-eight  households  of  surprising  variety.  Of  the  adults  age  eighteen  and 
above,  24  percent  were  male  and  30  percent  female.  Most  of  them  were  born  in 
Mississippi,  about  80  percent,  and  nearly  all  of  them  (94  percent)  were  the  children  of 
mixed  parentage  obvious  enough  to  be  listed  as  mulattoes  by  the  census  enumerators. 
Only  one  old  man  was  listed  as  having  been  born  in  Africa.  The  places  of  birth  most  cited 


107.  A  substantial  body  of  secondary  literature  is  available  for  study  of  antebellum  free  blacks.  Among  the 
most  important  are  the  following:  Ira  Berlin,  Slaves  Without  Masters:  The  Free  Negro  in  the  Antebellum 
South  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1974);  Leonard  P.  Curry,  The  Free  Black  in  Urban  America,  1800-1850:  The  Shadow 
of  a  Dream  (Chicago,  111.,  1981);  Edwin  Adams  Davis  and  William  Ransom  Hogan,  The  Barber  of  Natchez 
(Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1954,  1973);  ed.),  William  Johnson's  Natchez:  The  Ante-Bellum  Diary  of  a  Free  Negro, 
Volumes  I  and  II  (Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1951);  Carl  N.  Degler,  Neither  Black  Nor  White:  Slavery  and  Race 
Relations  in  Brazil  and  the  United  States  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1971);  Michael  P.  Johnson  and  James  L.  Roark, 
"A  Middle  Ground":  Free  Mulattoes  and  the  Friendly  Moralist  Society  of  Antebellum  Charleston,  "Southern 
Studies  XXI  (Fall  1982),  pp.  246-265;  Black  Masters:  A  Free  Family  of  Color  in  the  Old  South  (Urbana,  111., 
21984;  (ed.),  No  Chariot  Let  Down:  Charleston's  Free  People  of  Color  on  the  Eve  of  the  Civil  War  (New  York. 
N.Y.,  1984);  Leon  F.  Litwack,  North  of  Slavery:  Free  black  in  Antebellum  South  Carolina  (Columbia,  S.C.. 
1973);  Joel  Williamson,  New  People:  Miscegenation  and  Mulattos  in  the  United  States  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1980). 

51 


after  Mississippi  were  Virginia  (11  percent)  and  Maryland  (3  percent).  Three  had  been 
born  in  northern  states.108 

Nearly  16  percent  of  the  free  black  households  were  headed  by  females,  with  no  adult 
males  in  the  dwelling.  Julia  Yates,  for  example,  a  thirty-seven-year-old  black  dressmaker 
resided  with  her  five  children  ranging  in  ages  from  12  to  16,  none  of  whom  were  listed  as 
mulattoes.  Dwelling  number  100  in  the  census  was  occupied  by  three  female  headed 
families:  Dressmaker  Caroline  Lawson,  age  35,  shared  quarters  with  her  four  children,  a 
thirty-one-year-old  washerwoman  named  Frances  Gustine  and  the  two  Gustine  children, 
and  washerwoman  Rosalie  Bazane,  age  41,  and  her  ten  children.  In  another  household 
lived  Margaret  Anderson,  occupation  unknown,  and  her  seven  children.  Washerwoman 
Margaret  Dent,  age  28,  was  a  single  parent  of  five  children  ranging  in  ages  from  1  to  12. 
So  too  was  washerwoman  Elizabeth  Parker,  35,  who  lived  with  four  children,  ages  2  to  10. 
More  fortunate,  perhaps,  was  Emily  Stevens,  age  34.  She  had  her  seventeen-year-old  son, 
Albert,  a  laborer,  to  help  in  supporting  the  four  younger  children  in  the  household. 

The  largest  group  of  free  black  households  were  adult-only  dwellings  (37  percent):  places 
occupied  by  spouses,  parents  living  with  grown  children,  sisters  and  brothers,  boarders, 
and  friends.  George  Smith,  a  laborer,  lived  with  his  adult  children  Margaret  and  Jefferson. 
Maria  Winston,  a  fifty-six-year-old  dressmaker,  lived  with  her  two  adult  children  and  one 
other  adult  boarder  or  friend.  Andrew  Lieper,  60,  lived  with  his  three  adult  children  — 
Andrew  Jr.,  Margaret,  and  Caroline.  Fifty-year-old  washerwoman  Rachel  Burns  stayed 
with  her  three  adult  children.  Rosilla  and  husband  Charles  Harris,  a  drayman  by  trade, 
ages  40  and  50  respectively,  lived  with  their  seventeen-year-old  daughter,  Rosetta,  and 
another  relative,  Edward,  age  33,  who  was  also  a  drayman.  Included  in  the  household  was 
a  young  girl,  Susan  Collins,  age  14. 

Drayman  Harry  Marshal  lived  with  his  washerwoman  wife,  Cloe,  (Both  were  in  their 
fifties)  as  did  husband  and  wife,  John  and  Dery  Smith,  42  and  35.  A  twenty-six-year-old 
free  black  artist,  Alonza  Nichols,  resided  with  two  women  having  the  same  last  name,  ages 
19  and  16,  and  a  twenty-three-year-old  washerwoman  named  Louisa  Spillers.  Sisters  — 
or  perhaps  cousins  —  Elizabeth  and  Julia  Cessar,  ages  38  and  36,  shared  quarters  and  the 
occupation  of  dressmaker  in  dwelling  number  455.  So  too,  in  dwelling  number  449,  did 
dressmakers  Sarah  and  Rachel  Woods,  ages  55  and  65.  Sixty-year-old  Peter  Woods, 
occupation  unknown,  lived  alone,  a  few  houses  away  from  Sarah  and  Rachel.  All  three  had 
come  from  Virginia. 

Deliah  Davis,  age  40,  and  Anthony  Gordon,  a  drayman,  occupied  single  resident  dwellings. 
Household  number  790,  on  the  other  hand,  was  shared  by  five  adults:  Rachel  Nelson,  60; 
carpenter  William  Winston,  30;  J.  C.  Norton,  25  and  a  barber  by  trade;  Frank  Norton,  age 
26,  also  a  barber;  and  a  thirty-six-year-old  servant  named  Charles  Young. 

Of  the  remaining  free  black  dwellings  listed  in  the  manuscript  census  of  1860,  nine  (24 
percent)  held  nuclear  type  families  consisting  of  two  parents  and  their  children.  Table  6 


108.  The  analysis  above,  running  for  several  pages  in  the  text,  is  based  upon  data  found  on  free  blacks  in 
the  unpublished  manuscript  census  for  Adams  County:  U.S..  Census  (1860.  1850.  1840).  Manuscript 
Population  and  Slave  Schedules,  Adams  County.  Mississippi. 

52 


below  lays  out  the  census  data  for  what  many  in  Natchez  may  have  considered  the  ideal 
household. 


Table  6.   Free  Black  Nuclear  Families  Profiled 


Value  of 

Value  of 

Personal 

Name 

Occupation 

Family  Size 

Real  Estate 

Property 

Nelson  Fitzhugh 

Servant 

10 

$3,000 

$9,000 

William  Johnson,  Jr. 

Barber 

9 

10,000 

6,000 

Robert  McCary 

Barber 

6 

2,500 

500 

Matt  West 

Drayman 

6 

0 

0 

Claiborne  Norton 

Laborer 

4 

0 

0 

Jos  Barland 

Baker 

5 

0 

0 

Daniel  Holly 

Barber 

2 

0 

0 

Mark  Farris 

Laborer 

5 

0 

0 

Robert  Lieper 

Drayman 

5 
)t  Population 

0 
Schedules,  Adams  C 

0 

Source:   U.S.  Census 

(1860),  Manuscrij 

bounty,  Mississippi 

Scattered  among  the  remaining  households  were  eight  (22  percent)  that  fit  no  eacily 
described  grouping.  Carpenter  John  Foley,  49,  lived  with  a  woman  eleven  years  his  senior, 
possibly  a  sister,  a  young  woman  and  three  young  men  in  their  twenties,  three  teenagers, 
and  one  youngster  —  all  named  Foley.  Mary  Lej(oro),  44,  occupation  unknown,  lived  with 
the  four  Poiret  males,  ranging  in  age  from  20  to  26,  and  their  three  teenage  siblings. 
Washerwoman  Cassandra  Cessar,  57,  lived  with  her  three  adult  sons,  a  daughter  or 
daughter-in-law,  and  one  toddler,  age  3.  The  eleven-member  family  of  Elizabeth  Smith, 
age  50,  lived  in  the  same  household  as  a  white  woman  named  Mary  A.  Wa(itler).  Two  of 
the  Smiths  listed  their  occupations  as  servants.  Five  were  children.  Drayman  Armstead 
Carter,  his  forty-year-old  wife,  Jeannett,  and  their  four  children  lived  in  a  dwelling  that 
included  barber  William  Shelby  and  his  thirty-two-year-old  son,  George  Williamson,  a 
servant  by  occupation,  and  twenty-eight-year-old  Matilda  Dickson.  Anthony  Hoggatt,  age 
29,  a  carpenter  by  trade,  lived  with  his  twenty-seven-year-old  brother,  John,  a  male  child 
named  Elliot  Hoggatt,  a  baby  girl  named  Louisa,  and  two  young  seamstresses,  sisters, 
ages  18  and  16.  Perhaps  the  brothers  and  sisters  were  husbands  and  wives.  Albert  Tolbert, 
still  active  as  a  gardener  at  age  73,  lived  with  his  wife,  Lucy,  age  65,  a  three-year-old 
child,  and  a  thirty-eight-year-old  male  relative  named  Bill.  Household  number  542  was 
occupied  by  a  male  infant  and  four  women  ranging  in  age  from  17  to  85. 

Free  blacks  in  Natchez  lived  in  a  diversity  of  family  arrangements  to  say  the  least.  Most 
of  the  households  included  occupants  with  the  same  family  names,  but  relatively  few  were 
limited  to  just  family  members.  Whether  these  households  were  extended  family  units, 


53 


including  real  and  so-called  fictive  relatives,  is  difficult  to  know.  Some  obviously  were,  but 
others  may  have  been  single  and  multi-family  households  in  which  their  members  lived 
together  in  dwellings  more  akin  to  boarding  houses. 

When  the  households  of  1860  are  compared  to  those  for  previous  census  years  one  fact  is 
compellingly  obvious:  few  free  blacks  lived  with  whites  on  the  eve  of  the  Civil  War.  Table 
7  below  shows  the  breakdown  of  households  wherein  free  blacks  resided  in  the  same 
building  as  whites  for  the  years  1820  to  1860.  The  information  is  arranged  in  two 
categories:  free  blacks  (individuals  and  families)  who  lived  in  dwellings  also  occupied  by 
whites;  and  free  black  households,  or  free  black  families,  living  in  the  same  dwelling  as 
white  households,  or  white  families. 

What  explains  the  emergence  of  the  autonomous  (non-white  associated)  free  black 
household?  Firstly,  the  data  could  be  misleading  in  the  sense  that  free  black  dwellings 
listed  in  the  census  as  separate  units  might  be  servant  quarters  or  dependencies  attached 
to  a  white  household.  Secondly,  and  more  likely,  two  generations  of  manumission  in 
Natchez  had  produced  separate  residences  in  which  free  blacks  no  longer  lived  as  servants 
in  the  households  of  the  masters  who  had  freed  them,  or  as  children  and  wives  in  the 
households  of  their  white  fathers  and  husbands.  Nor  had  there  developed  a  community  of 
workers  in  which  free  blacks  lived  with  white  craftsmen  and  artisans  as  employees  or 
apprentices.  Workers  living  in  white  artisan  households  appear  to  have  been  exclusively 
slaves  and  white  employees.  Most  importantly,  manumissions  fell  off  dramatically  in  the 
1840s  and  1850s  as  pressure  increased  to  end  the  practice  of  freeing  slaves  altogether.  No 
longer  did  masters  free  a  favorite  slave  and  then  keep  the  slave  on  as  a  servant;  or  free 
a  son  or  daughter  and  keep  the  child  in  the  household.  Instead,  if  a  slave  was  manumitted, 
he  or  she  was  most  likely  sent  out  of  state  —  probably  to  Ohio  —  never  to  return.109 


Table  7.    Free  Black  and  White  Households 


1820  1830           1840           1850  1860 

%  FB  living  with  Whites                              85  64               30               11  6 

7r  FB  living  within  White  Households       71  74               46                12  5 

#  Free  Blacks                                                   69  81  202  213  214 


Source:  U.S.  Census  (1820,  1830,  1840,  1850,  I860),  Manuscript  Population  and  Slave 
Schedules,  Adams  County,  Mississippi. 


Although  most  free  blacks  lived  in  dwellings  apart  from  whites  in  the  1850s,  their 
households  were  located  throughout  the  town  with  no  visible  clustering  in  neighborhoods, 


109.     Sydnor,  Slavery  in  Mississippi,  pp.  203-239. 

54 


blocks,  or  districts.  The  white  neighbors  were  fruit  merchants,  clerks,  brick  masons, 
carpenters,  plasterers,  painters,  printers,  lawyers,  clergyman,  tavern  keepers,  teachers, 
stonecutters,  city  watchmen,  laborers,  merchants,  ginwrights,  overseers,  farmers,  and 
laborers.  In  a  word,  whites  from  nearly  every  middling  class  occupation  represented  in  the 
town  lived  in  proximity  —  across  the  street  and  next  door  —  to  free  black  households. 

This  is  not  to  say,  however,  that  a  similar  variety  of  jobs  and  occupations  were  available 
to  the  town's  "free  people  of  color."  Not  surprisingly,  free  blacks  were  limited  in  their  work 
to  a  relatively  small  number  of  occupations,  of  which  certain  ones  were  in  the  forefront. 
Among  the  adult  males  enumerated  in  the  manuscript  census,  five  occupations  stand  out: 
carpenters  (23  percent),  draymen  (20  percent),  servants  (20  percent),  laborers  (17  percent), 
and  barbers  ( 1 1  percent).  Only  a  few  free  blacks  worked  as  bakers,  blacksmiths,  gardeners, 
and  stewards;  one  was  listed  as  an  artist.  Women  fell  equally  into  three  categories  of 
work:  seamstress,  dressmaker,  and  washerwoman. 

Free  blacks  in  Natchez  worked  principally  at  jobs  that  were  service  oriented.  Few 
produced  goods  or  facilitated  commerce  and  trade,  and  no  "free  persons  of  color"  worked 
at  trades  essential  to  the  business  of  cotton  or  slavery.  None,  but  one  or  two,  functioned 
as  skilled  managers.  None  could  be  said  to  have  been  vital  contributors  of  much  economic 
importance  to  the  larger  society.  They  were,  at  least  occupationally,  a  marginal  people. 
Had  all  the  free  blacks  of  Natchez  vanished  from  the  scene,  it  would  not  have  mattered 
much  insofar  as  the  functioning  of  the  town  (as  a  slave  market  and  cotton  entrepot)  was 
concerned.  Town  slaves  would  have  simply  taken  over  as  draymen,  washerwomen,  and 
servants;  town  whites  would  have  filled  in  as  barbers,  carpenters,  and  dressmakers. 

The  plight  of  being  marginally  free  and  totally  black  in  Natchez  involved  a  drama  that 
played  itself  out  in  ritualized  conformity  to  the  rules  and  expectations  of  behavior  set  down 
by  the  white  community.110  In  the  first  place,  a  free  black's  peculiar  burden  in  life  was 
to  live  with  the  knowledge  that  freedom  had  been  a  gift.  Most  adult  free  blacks  in 
antebellum  Natchez  had  been  born  into  slavery  and  subsequently  freed  by  their  owners. 
It  mattered  little  whether  the  manumission  had  resulted  from  a  sense  of  guilt, 
appreciation,  fatherly  affection,  or  as  a  token  of  magnanimity.  The  mechanism  of 
manumission  left  little  doubt  but  that  the  freedom  granted  was  a  bestowed  gift  rather 
than  an  earned  or  natural  right.  Accordingly,  the  rules  of  behavior  demanded  that  free 
blacks  exhibit  a  profound  sense  of  their  own  limitations.  At  times,  these  demands  were 
little  more  than  racism;  at  other  times,  when  perpetrated  by  fathers,  patrons,  friends,  and 
even  the  blacks  themselves,  the  demands  reflected  a  generally  accepted  belief  in  a  scheme 
of  life  in  which  everything  and  everybody  had  its  place  —  in  which  all  of  human  life  was 
limited  and  constrained. 

Nor  did  it  matter  that  one  had  been  born  free,  say  the  son  or  daughter  of  a  manumitted 
slave.  Free  blacks  knew  that  the  larger  society  in  which  they  lived  was  committed  to  the 
notion  that  a  black  person's  freedom  had  not  accrued  to  him  or  her  by  right  of  birth,  or  as 
a  human  right;  free  blacks  well  understood  just  how  pervasive  was  this  white  perspective, 


110.  See  Orlando  Patterson,  Slavery  and  Social  Death:  A  Comparative  Study  (Cambridge,  Mass.,  1982),  pp. 
209-344,  for  an  important  conceptual  discussion  helpful  for  understanding  the  so-called  "freed  persons"  of 
slavery. 

55 


forced  as  they  were  by  law  to  secure  the  sponsorship  of  white  benefactors  simply  to  stay 
in  Natchez,  to  earn  a  living,  and  to  avoid  being  re-enslaved  or  similarly  abused. 

The  state  legislature,  moreover,  (in  the  years  1831,  1842,  and  again,  in  1857)  set  down  a 
series  of  legal  strictures  delineating  the  constraints  within  which  the  gift  of  freedom  could 
be  given,  allowed,  and  renewed.  The  rules  were  clearly  spelled  out.  No  black  could  be  freed 
except  by  the  consent  of  the  state  legislature  upon  special  application  of  the  slaveholder. 
All  free  blacks  wishing  to  remain  within  the  state  were  required  to  have  the  sponsorship 
of  prominent  white  citizens,  attesting  to  the  good  character  of  those  who  had  been  gifted 
with  freedom.  No  free  black  could  engage  in  business  except  after  having  obtained  a 
license  from  a  municipal  or  county  authority.  And  under  no  circumstances  would  the 
town's  "free  people  of  color"  be  allowed  to  trade  with  slaves.111 

The  white  community  tolerated  the  presence  of  free  blacks  as  long  as  the  "free  people  of 
color"  recognized,  acted  in  accordance  with,  and  demonstrated  an  appreciation  of  their 
unworthy  status.  Those  who  did,  could  remain  in  the  community,  free  and  in  place.  Those 
who  did  not,  those  who  violated  the  rules  by  which  the  gift  had  been  granted,  were  chased 
away,  beaten,  and  even  re-enslaved.112 

Because  freedom  was  essentially  a  gift  granted  by  one's  master  and  with  the  consent  of 
the  white  community  (the  state  legislature),  it  involved  a  process  of  delivery  and 
continuation  that  was  almost  always  arbitrary,  capricious,  and  one-sided,  even  when  the 
gift-givers  wanted  to  do  what  was  considered  morally  correct.  A  brief  sampling  of 
manumission  petitions  and  wills  illustrate  the  point.  In  January,  1832,  Alex  Parker 
liberated  a  little  boy  named  Richard,  age  11.  The  remaining  slaves  in  Parker's  holding, 
probably  Richard's  parents,  were  to  be  sold  to  pay  debts.  Such  discriminating  treatment, 
freeing  some  slaves  and  selling  others,  was  typical.  Its  effect,  besides  enabling  the  master 
to  do  as  he  wished  with  his  property,  was  to  strongly  reinforce  the  idea  that  freedom  was 
always  a  question  of  whim  and  fancy  as  much  as  it  was  a  question  of  beneficence.11" 

The  rather  famous  case  of  James  Green's  manumission  of  his  slaves  is  a  striking  example 
of  how  arbitrary  the  granting  of  freedom  could  be  even  when  given  by  a  man  of  good  will. 
Green  is  remembered  as  the  Natchez  planter  who  liberated  twenty-six  of  his  slaves, 
underwriting  their  passage  to  Liberia  where  they  settled  in  the  1830s.  The  process  of 
manumission  that  was  played  out  involved  a  self-serving  ritual  that  greatly  strengthened 
Green's  class  (slave  holder)  position  while  seriously  undermining  the  autonomy  of  his 
slaves.114 

Green  freed,  to  begin  our  story,  one  of  his  slaves,  Granger,  outright  in  "consideration  of 
his  "faithful  services  and  meritorious  conduct.  .  .  ."  Another  group  of  thirty-nine  slaves, 


111.  Charles  S.  Sydnor.  "The  Free  Negro  in  Mississippi  Before  The  Civil  War."  The  American  Historical 
Review  XXXII  (July  1927),  pp.  769-788. 

112.  Ibid. 

113.  Wills.  January  12,  1832,  Adams  County  Will  Book.  Vol.  2.  Office  of  Records.  Natchez.  Mississippi 

114.  Ibid.,  May  13.  1832.;  see  also  Sydnor,  Slavery  in  Mississippi,  pp.  203-238. 

56 


bequeathed  to  Green's  sister,  were  to  be  liberated  should  his  sister  think  them  "deserving 
of  emancipation."  Those  not  freed  were  to  be  sold,  with  the  "proceeds  given  to  some 
charitable  purpose  —  such  as  support  of  those  emancipated  or  towards  endowing  an 
academy  or  school."1 

To  another  sister,  Green  willed  three  slave  families.  Several  other  slave  families  were  left 
to  a  brother-in-law.  Both  grants  were  constrained  by  the  stipulation  that  his  sister  and 
brother-in-law  could  select  any  slaves  from  the  Green  estate  in  lieu  of  the  ones  named  by 
him.  Then  Green  liberated  thirteen  other  slaves  by  name  with  the  instructions  that  they 
be  given  a  liberal  sum  to  help  them  settle  in  Liberia  or  elsewhere.116 

The  point,  of  course,  is  that  freedom  was  a  gift  bestowed,  and  one  that  could  be  revoked, 
prior  to  its  implementation,  if  an  heir  thought  it  prudent  to  do  so.  Indeed,  some  years 
later,  Green's  sister  Eliza  demonstrated  the  precarious  nature  of  the  manumission  process. 
Her  will  reads:  "...  I  now  declare  and  make  known  that  but  one  of  all  said  slaves 
bequeathed  to  me  by  my  said  brother  is  entitled  his  freedom,  named  Barnet,  whom  alone 
I  think  worthy  of  my  emancipation  and  entitled  to  it  according  to  the  wish  and  desire  of 
my  said  brother."117  But  still  the  matter  was  not  closed.  Barnet's  ultimate  gift  of 
freedom  was  left  in  the  hands  of  her  son-in-law,  William  G.  Conner,  who  was  directed  "to 
pay  a  sum  necessary  in  the  payment  of  the  value  of  the  Negro  slave,  Barnet  and  his 
family,  for  their  emancipation,  if  they  should  continue  to  be  worthy  of  their  freedom  in  his 
opinion."  The  bestowers  of  the  gift  now  included  three  benefactors:  James  Green,  Eliza 
Wood,  and  William  G.  Conner  —  and  the  granting  of  the  gift  had  dragged  on  for  nearly 
two  decades.1 

And  because  manumission  was  always  considered  a  gift,  slave  holders  could  change  their 
minds,  at  least  up  to  the  last  moment.  Planter  John  Minor's  will  carried  with  it  a  codicil, 
filed  in  May  of  1830,  that  demonstrated  how  it  could  happen.  The  original  document  set 
free  a  slave  in  consideration  of  his  faithful  services.  The  codicil  reads: 

Whereas  since  making  of  my  last  will  my  said  Negro  man  named  Spencer 
has  acted  unfaithfully  and  I  have  sold  him,  I  do  hereby  revoke  my  will  that 
said  Spencer  be  manumitted  and  hereby  direct  and  will  that  said  Negro 
Spencer  be  and  remain  a  slave  for  life  as  he  is  now.119 

Most  of  the  wills  sampled  specifically  linked  the  connection  between  faithful  service  and 
manumission.  Thomas  Brabston  emancipated  three  male  slaves  in  1832  "on  account  of 
their   loyal   and   faithful   service."   James   Foster   emancipated   his   slave  William    "in 


115.  Ibid. 

116.  Ibid. 

117.  Ibid.,  October  26,  1847. 

118.  Ibid.,  April  28,  1851.  The  details  discussed  above  say  nothing,  on  the  other  hand,  of  the  stress  that  must 
have  prevailed  among  Green's  slaves  in  understanding  that  some  of  them  would  be  freed,  some  would  have 
to  wait,  and  some  would  be  sold  to  help  underwrite  their  master's  peculiar  habit  of  mind. 

119.  Ibid.,  May  16,  1830. 

57 


consideration  of  his  faithful  service  and  good  character.  .  .  as  soon  as  he  pays  my  executor 
$500.  .  .  ."  David  Holmes  freed  some  of  his  slaves  outright,  freed  others  with  grants  of 
money,  gave  others  cash  grants  but  not  freedom  in  consideration  of  their  faithful  conduct, 
and  bestowed  $50  to  his  "slave  Sylvia  as  compensation  for  attending  me  during  my 
illness."120 

Why  some  slaves  were  freed  while  others  were  not  was  left  unstated  in  the  documents  and 
probably  unclear  in  the  minds  of  the  slaves  themselves.  Zalmona  Parker  freed  five  faithful 
servants  immediately  upon  her  death  and  two  slaves  effective  in  ten  years.  Four  other 
slaves  were  sold  outright.  William  Bethell,  grateful  to  his  servant  Joicey  for  her 
"unrementing  attention"  during  his  illness,  decided  to  free  his  faithful  slave  in 
consideration  of  $800.  Slaveholder  Elizabeth  Flyn  allowed  John  Black,  "in  consideration 
of  his  good  character  and  faithful  service,"  the  right,  at  age  50,  to  "enjoy  and  possess  his 
own  time  and  labor  subject  only  to  such  proper  and  necessary  control  and  supervision  as 
becomes  his  situation."  Dickinson  Macrery,  "in  high  regard"  for  the  boy  Addison,  instructed 
the  executrix  of  his  estate  to  allow  Addison  "the  privilege  of  hiring  himself  wherever  he 
may  desire,"  with  the  understanding  that  the  boy  could  gain  his  freedom  whenever  he 
"shall  have  paid  to  my  heirs  the  sum  of  $700."    1 

Most  of  the  above  manumissions,  intentions  of  manumission,  and  assorted  privileges  were 
acts  of  beneficence  in  the  eyes  of  the  white  community.  All  outright  manumissions  were 
subject  to  legislative  approval  or  else  the  slaveholder's  ability  to  transport  slaves  to  a  free 
state.  Even  in  those  cases  where  slave  masters  freed  their  own  children  and  black 
mistresses,  the  notion  of  privilege  remained  central  to  the  process  although  not  always  in 
the  mind  of  the  slaveholder.  Fountain  Winston  freed  his  servant  girl  Rachael  in 
consideration  of  her  long  and  faithful  service  to  him,  in  particular  for  her  diligent  care 
during  his  severe  sickness  thereby  prolonging  his  life.  But  her  son  was  to  "continue  in 
slavery  that  may  better  subserve  the  interest  of  society  —  and  that  he  shall  remain  with 
his  mother  until  he  is  old  enough  to  be  bound  to  some  respectable  mechanic  until  age  21, 
when  he  will  be  free."  Winston  also  deeded  his  household  furniture,  cash,  and  property  to 
William,  at  age  21,  suggesting  that  the  two  were  probably  father  and  son.122 

Willford  Hoggatt  freed,  in  1841,  a  slave  woman  and  her  seven  children  along  with  a  four- 
year  old  mulatto  girl.  In  addition  he  willed  his  entire  estate,  including  4000  acres  in  Texas, 
to  the  eight  children  in  equal  portions  of  land,  slaves,  stock,  and  household  furniture.  All 
money  left  over  after  paying  his  debts  was  to  be  used  to  purchase  slaves  in  support  of  the 
eight  children  named  in  his  will.  There  seems  to  be  little  doubt  but  that  the  slave  woman 
named  in  the  will  was  Hoggatt's  mistress  or  that  the  eight  children  were  his  own.  Indeed, 
all  of  the  children  took  Hoggatt's  name  as  their  own.  In  justifying  the  manumission, 
Hoggatt  explained  that  the  slave  woman  had  been  free  since  1824,  when  she  had 
purchased  her  freedom  from  him  for  $550.  To  emphasize  his  point  he  willed  the  woman 


120.  Ibid..  December  8.  1832:  March  5.  1833;  July  8.  1833. 

121.  Ibid..  October  30.  1834.  December  28.  1847;  January  8.  1853. 

122.  Ibid..  September  20.  1834. 

58 


$600  in  payment  for  her  sixteen  years  of  work,  as  if  to  say  that  she  had  been  an  employee 
all  along.123 

Natchez  merchant  Christopher  H.  Kyle  petitioned,  in  Concordia  Parish  in  1819,  to  free  his 
slave  Nancy  and  her  two  sons.  Successful  with  Nancy,  Kyle  manumitted  Sally,  age  30,  in 
1824.  Three  years  later  he  sent  his  slave  Caroline  and  her  infant  son  John  to  the  free  state 
of  Ohio,  wherein  they  were  freed  and  then  returned  to  Natchez.  Both  Nancy  and  Caroline 
took  Kyle's  name  as  their  own.  In  the  cases  of  Nancy  and  Sally,  Kyle  swore,  as  was 
required  by  Louisiana  law,  that  the  women  had  been  honest,  faithful,  and  diligent,  had 
never  run  away  or  committed  any  robberies  or  other  criminal  acts,  and  that  he  would 
"nourish  and  maintain"  them  should  they  ever  "be  in  want  owing  to  old  age,  sickness, 
insanity  or  any  proven  infirmity."  Kyle  would  eventually  leave  most  of  his  property  to 
Nancy,  who  was  listed  in  the  census  of  1850  as  being  60,  and  to  Caroline,  listed  as  35. 
Included  in  the  Kyle  household  in  1850  was  a  twenty-year-old  male  named  Christopher 
Kyle.124 

Earlier  in  the  century,  in  1815,  William  Barland  had  petitioned  the  General  Assembly  of 
Mississippi  Territory  for  the  right  to  manumit  a  woman,  named  Elizabeth,  and  her  twelve 
offspring  whom  he  "acknowledged"  as  his  "children."125  William  Johnson  manumitted 
his  slave,  Amy,  for  "her  good  conduct  and  fidelity,"  and  a  boy,  William,  for  reasons  of 
justice  to  another  human  being  pure  and  simple: 

Your  Petitioner  humbly  prays  your  Honorable  Body  to  permit  him  ...  [to 
give]  that  Liberty  to  a  human  being  which  all  are  entitled  to  as  a  Birthright, 
&  extend  the  hand  of  humanity  to  a  rational  Creature,  on  whom 
unfortunately  Complexion  Custom  &  even  Law  in  this  land  of  freedom,  has 
conspired  to  rivit  the  fetters  of  Slavery.126 

Few  documents  of  manumission  were  so  candid  as  Bartland's  or  so  nobly  stated  as 
Johnson's.  Regardless,  however,  of  the  good  intentions  of  the  grantors,  the  process 
remained  that  of  owners  bestowing  the  gift  of  freedom  onto  their  slaves.  But  was  the  gift, 
once  freely  given,  thereafter  unencumbered  in  the  eyes  of  the  white  community?  What  was 
expected  of  the  newly  freed  "person  of  color"? 

Students  of  Natchez  history  have  identified  several  free  black  families  as  standing  out 
from  the  rest.  They  were  distinct  for  reasons  of  their  stability  over  time,  their  comparative 
wealth,  and  their  acceptance  by  the  white  community.  Most  of  them  owned  slaves  and  real 
estate  and  operated  their  own  businesses.  At  the  top  of  the  list  stood  William  Johnson, 
Natchez  barber  who  owned  as  many  as  thirty  slaves  during  his  lifetime,  farm  lands, 
several  barber  shops,  a  bathhouse,  brick  residences  and  buildings  in  town,  racing  horses, 


123.     Ibid.,  December  24,  1824 


124.  Deeds,  March  28,  1825;  July  24,  1825,  Adams  County  Deed  Book,  Vol.  O;  September  6,  1826,  Adams 
County  Deed  Book,  Vol.  P;  June  5,  1827,  Adams  county  deed  book,  Vol.  R,  Office  of  Records,  Natchez, 
Mississippi;  U.S.  Census  (1850),  Manuscript  Population  Schedule,  Adams  County,  Mississippi. 

125.  Deeds,  June  1,  1815,  Adams  County  Deed  Book,  Vol.  H,  Office  of  Records,  Natchez,  Mississippi. 

126.  As  quoted  in  davis  and  Hogan,  The  Barber  of  Natchez,  pp.  15-16. 

59 


livestock,  and  substantial  household  furniture.  He  loaned  money  at  interest  to  whites  and 
blacks  alike,  traveled  about  the  county  and  across  the  river  to  Concordia  Parish  at  will, 
carried  firearms  for  hunting,  whipped  his  slaves,  employed  white  overseers  and  laborers, 
and  made  frequent  trips  to  New  Orleans  for  business  and  pleasure.127 

Equally  accepted  by  the  white  community  were  the  McCarys,  Fitzhughs,  Smiths,  and 
Barlands.  All  mulattoes,  these  families  had  either  been  born  free,  such  as  Robert  Smith, 
or  had  been  manumitted  by  their  white  fathers.  By  1850,  they  operated  taxi  services 
(Robert  Smith),  served  as  grocery  clerks  (Nelson  Fitzhugh),  owned  barber  shops  (Robert 
McCary),  and  held  slaves  and  substantial  farm  lands  (the  Barland  family  and  William 
Johnson).  Like  William  Johnson,  they  enjoyed  freedom  of  movement  and  took  advantage 
of  opportunities  for  making  money  and  living  well.  Other  families  —  such  as  the  Winns, 
Hoggatts,  and  Kyles  —  could  be  included  in  the  list.  But  none  were  as  prominent,  or  as 
accepted  by  Natchez  whites,  as  were  the  first  five.128 

What  they  shared  in  common,  moreover,  went  beyond  their  freedom  and  the  fair  color  of 
their  skin.  To  a  person,  the  above  mentioned  African-American  families  were  bonded 
together  by  a  common  commitment  to  hard  work  as  well  as  an  aggressive  eye  for  taking 
advantage  of  the  opportune  moment.  Yet  luck  was  always  as  important  for  them  as  talent 
and  ambition.  William  Johnson,  for  example,  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  the  brother-in-law 
of  the  most  successful  black  barber  in  Natchez.  McCary's  white  father  left  few  stones 
unturned  in  educating  his  mulatto  children.  Fitzhugh's  master  just  happened  to  believe 
that  faithful  service  and  hard  work  should  be  rewarded  with  the  gift  of  freedom.  Smith 
enjoyed  the  favor  of  prominent  white  benefactors  almost  from  the  moment  of  his  arrival 
in  Natchez.  Johnson,  McCary,  and  the  Barlands  started  out  life  with  inherited  property 
—  quite  substantial  amounts  in  the  case  of  the  Barlands.  And  most  of  them  had  the  good 
fortune,  or  keen  insight,  to  work  in  occupations  that  the  white  community  deemed  totally 
appropriate  for  free  blacks.  The  Barlands  held  one  other  advantage  that  set  them  apart: 
their  women  (sisters  and  daughters)  had  married  white  men.129 

Most  importantly,  the  Smiths,  McCarys,  Fitzhughes,  and  Johnsons  were  led  by  men  who 
well  understood  what  was  expected  of  them  as  free  blacks.  Each  understood  how  important 
it  was  to  have  white  benefactors  and  patrons.  Each  worked  especially  hard  at  establishing 
a  reputation  for  faithful  service  to  the  white  community  that  both  reinforced  the 
boundaries  of  their  caste  and  secured  their  well-being  in  freedom.  In  a  word,  the  Johnsons, 
McCarys,  Fitzhughs,  and  Smiths  conducted  themselves  with  an  attitude  of  respectful 
gratitude  for  the  gift  of  freedom  that  had  been  bestowed  upon  them.  Humility,  a  displayed 
sense  of  limitations,  and  a  willingness  to  live  in  the  margins  of  life  is  what  they  all  shared 


127.  See  the  following  for  materials  on  Johnson:  Edwin  Adams  Davis  and  William  Ransom  Hogan.  The 
Barber  of  Natchez  (Baton  Rouge,,  La.,  1954,  1973);  Davis  and  Hogan.  (ed.l,  William  Johnson's  Natchez:  The 
Ante-Bellum  Diary  of  a  Free  Negro.  2  vols.  (Baton  Rouge.  La.,  1951  h  The  William  Johnson  Familv 
Papers,  LSU. 

128.  Ibid.,  see  also  the  numerous  manumission  documents  and  land  deed  transactions  contained  in  land,  will. 
and  mortgage  records  housed  in  the  Office  of  Records.  Natchez.  Mississippi. 

129.  David  and  Hogan.  The  Barber  of  Natchez,  pp.  240-251;  Wills.  April  11.  1816.  Adams  County  Will  Book. 
Vol.  1,  Office  of  Records.  Natchez.  Mississippi.  See  also  Black  History  Collection  File.  The  Historic  Natchez 
Foundation,  Natchez,  Mississippi., 

60 


in  common.  Their  good  luck  and  hard  work  were  factors  perhaps  essential  to  their  success, 
but  fortune  and  industry  would  not  have  been  tolerated  without  the  proper  display  of 
gratitude  in  their  conduct  and  manners  of  living.130 

The  obituary  for  Robert  Smith  that  appeared  in  the  Natchez  Courier  on  June  2,  1858,  is 
worth  quoting  at  length.  The  italicized  portions  are  added  for  emphasis: 

THE  LATE  ROBERT  D.  SMITH.  All  of  our  old  citizens  —  indeed  we  may 
say  —  all  our  citizens  —  will  regret  to  hear  of  the  death  of  Robert  D.  Smith, 
a  colored  man  of  our  city,  but  one  who,  by  his  industry,  probity  of  life, 
correctness  of  demeanor  and  Christian-like  character,  had  won  the  favor,  and 
respect  of  the  entire  community.  Every  citizen  knew  him,  and  there  are  but 
few  travellers,  who  frequented  our  city,  who  could  not  bear  witness  of  his 
correct  deportment  and  character. 

For  long  years  gone  by  he  had  filled  the  office  of  sexton  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  and  was  highly  regarded  as  a  member,  a  most  worthy  member.  He 
was  indeed  a  doorkeeper  in  the  House  of  God'.  He  died  on  Sunday  of 
pneumonia,  after  an  illness  of  some  ten  days,  and  his  remains  were  followed 
to  the  grave,  after  affecting  services  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  by  a  large 
concourse  of  his  colored  friends  and  relatives.  The  Colored  Temperance 
Society,  some  fifty  in  number  preceeded  the  hearse  which  was  followed  by 
some  twenty-five  carriages  and  double  that  number  of  horsemen.  We  have 
not  thought  it  inappropriate  to  mention  the  death  of  so  worthy  a  man,  or  the 
respect  and  kindness  which  attended  him.131 

Robert  Smith  was  one  of  the  most  accepted  free  blacks  in  Natchez.  He  operated  a  taxi 
service,  and  was  known  around  town  as  "the  Hackman."  He  had  arrived  in  Natchez 
sometime  in  the  mid- 1830s  by  way  of  New  Orleans,  having  been  born  a  free  man  in 
Maryland.  By  1851,  Smith  owned  slaves,  carriages,  and  an  impressive  brick  house  on 
Broadway.  But  his  middling  wealth  was  not  the  key  to  his  acceptance.  It  was  instead  his 
"industry,  probity,  [and]  demeanor..."  that  enabled  the  Natchez  Courier  to  comment  — 
although  apologetically  —  on  his  passing.  In  the  eyes  of  the  white  community,  Robert 
Smith  was  a  free  black  who  expressed  his  gratitude  for  the  privilege  of  living  and  working 
as  a  free  man  by  serving  the  community  of  whites  with  faithfulness  and  sobriety.  Such  is 
the  image  clearly  conveyed  by  the  words:  "a  doorkeeper  to  the  House  of  God."1 

A  similar  deportment  and  attitude  of  respectful  gratitude  was  associated,  in  the  minds  of 
white  residents,  with  the  free  black  Robert  McCary.  Like  Smith's,  McCary's  occupation 
was  but  one  step  removed  from  that  of  servant  and  house  slave.  He  cut,  primmed,  shaved, 
washed,  styled,  and  dusted  the  bodies  of  white  slaveholders  —  services  often  performed 
by  slaves.  Indeed,  several  of  the  barbers  in  his  shop  had  once  been  slaves.  What  is  more, 


130.  ibid. 

131.  The  Natchez  Courier,  July  2,  1858 


132.     Although  known  officially  as  the  sexton  of  the  most  prestigious  church  in  town,  the  words  "doorkeeper" 
suggest  that  Smith's  duties  were  more  those  of  a  house  servant  than  a  keeper  of  church  property. 

61 


like  Smith,  he  served  as  a  role  model  and  enforcer  of  white  defined  morality  and  discipline 
among  the  free  black  community  at  large.  The  records  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Natchez  list  McCary  among  its  black  participants.  And  like  Smith,  McCary  proved  to 
be  a  worthy  member.  He  had  joined  the  church  in  1856,  possibly  at  the  invitation  of 
Smith,  and  was  appointed  one  of  its  so-called  "colored  visitors."  McCary 's  role  in  the 
church  was  to  set  a  good  example  to  other  black  observers  —  many  of  whom  were  estate 
slaves,  to  see  that  its  black  members  conducted  themselves  properly,  and  to  serve  as  a 
vehicle  of  communication  whereby  the  "wants,  difficulties,  or  grievances"  of  the  church's 
black  participants  could  be  expressed  to  its  white  officers.133 

On  March  9,  1859,  McCary  brought  before  the  church's  governing  board  charges  of 
misconduct  against  three  of  its  black  participants.  The  procedure  required  a  hearing,  and 
McCary  was  ordered  to  summon  the  three  to  answer  the  charges  against  their  Christian 
character.  When  the  three  wayward  members  refused  to  appear  at  the  hearing,  McCary 
was  instructed  to  threaten  them  with  expulsion  from  "the  communion  of  the  church  should 
they  fail  to  obey.  ..."  One  of  the  accused,  a  woman,  eventually  met  with  the  hearing 
officers  and  accepted  their  admonishment.  The  two  others,  both  men,  refused  to  respond 
and  were  excommunicated  for  their  "contumacy"  in  failing  to  obey  the  second 
summons.134 

Putting  aside  as  unanswerable  the  question  of  McCary's  motivation  for  joining  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  his  actions  leave  little  doubt  as  to  the  basis  of  his  reputation  among 
its  white  congregation.  If  Smith  was  the  Church's  sober  and  respected  doorkeeper,  McCary 
was  its  faithful  overseer.135 

Probity,  industry,  faithful  service,  and  Christian-like  deportment  were  other  words  for 
gratitude.  And  the  properly  grateful  would  have  their  marriages  recognized,  their  children 
baptized,  their  shops  frequented,  and,  most  importantly,  their  freedom  reaffirmed.136 
The  case  of  Nelson  Fitzhugh  is  a  good  example  of  just  how  crucial  was  a  proper  attitude 
for  gaining  and  preserving  the  gift  of  freedom.  A  mulatto  born  into  slavery  in  1807, 
Fitzhugh  was  manumitted  by  Natchez  baker  Adam  Bauers  "for  cause."  He  learned  to  read 
and  write,  married  and  raised  a  family  of  seven  children  —  one  of  whom  married  the  son 
of  Robert  McCary,  and  clerked  in  a  succession  of  grocery  stores  and  merchant 
establishments  in  the  1840s  and  1850s.  He  listed  his  occupation  as  servant  in  the  census, 


133.  J.  Julian  Chisolm,  History  Of  The  First  Presbyterian  Church  Of  Natchez,  Mississippi  (Natchez.  Miss., 
1972),  pp.  36-38;  Anita  Wisner,  "A  Souther  Church:  The  First  Presbyterian  of  Natchez,"  unpublished 
manuscript  in  author's  possession;  Records  of  the  Session,  1843-1868,  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Natchez, 
Natchez,  Mississippi.  See  also  the  numerous  entries  in  William  Johnson  diary  wherein  McCary,  perhaps 
Johnson's  closest  friend,  is  alluded  to  with  affection  and  in  some  detail;  Davis  and  Hogan,  (ed.),  William 
Johnson's  Natchez:    The  Ante-Bellum  Diary  of  a  Free  Negro. 

134.  Ibid. 

135.  See  also  Black  History  Collection  file,  The  Historic  Natchez  Foundation. 

136.  See  especially  the  unpublished  diary,  1843-1903,  of  Joseph  Buck  Stratton.  Presbyterian  minister  of 
Natchez,  Mississippi,  Stratton  Papers,  LSU,  Baton  Rouge,  Louisiana. 

62 


a  term  which  belied  his  status  as  a  slaveowner  and  man  of  real  estate  valued  at  more  than 
$3000  in  I860.137 

Among  the  white  community,  Fitzhugh  was  remembered  as  a  kind  of  "factotum"  who 
clerked  in  the  grocery  store  of  a  "Capt.  [Louis}  Juliene,"  the  esteemed  commander  of  the 
Natchez  Fencibles,  a  local  militia  group.  When  pressure  mounted  in  the  late  1850s  to 
remove  all  free  blacks  from  the  state  except  those  whom  local  communities  judged  worthy, 
Fitzhugh  had  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  the  required  sponsorship  in  support  of  his  petition 
to  remain  in  Natchez.  The  wording  of  the  Order,  which  was  published  for  all  to  read  in  the 
Natchez  Courier,  reads  as  follows: 

Nelson  Fitzhugh,  a  free  man  of  color,  having  satisfied  this  Board  that  he 
and  his  family,  .  .  .  were  of  good  character  and  honest  deportment,  and  that 
it  is  the  wish  of  a  number  of  citizens  of  this  county  that  they  be  permitted 
to  remain  in  the  state,  It  is  therefore  orderd  by  the  Board,  that  the  said 
Nelson  Fitzhugh,  and  his  said  family  be,  and  they  are  hereby  licensed  to 
remain  in  this  state  pursuit  to  the  statute  in  this  behalf.138 

Fitzhugh  would  in  time  lose  the  respect  of  the  white  community  for  writing  a  postbellum 
letter  critical  of  the  South  and  for  his  political  activities  after  the  Civil  War.  The  anger 
expressed  by  an  editorial  in  a  Natchez  newspaper  indicates  how  closely  free  blacks  had 
to  walk  the  line  in  the  era  of  slavery: 

Included  in  the  possessions  of  Adam  Bauers  in  the  list  of  his  slave  property 
was  one  Nelson  Fitzhugh,  a  bright  mulatto  lad,  humble,  submissive,  quiet, 
unobtrusive,  seemingly  possessed  of  many  virtues,  and  few  if  any 
thoughts.  .  .  .  Citizens  spoke  of  him  as  a  proper  man  and  named  him  in 
connection  with  such  men  as  Wm.  Johnson,  the  barber,  and  Robert  McCary, 
the  metereological  reporter  for  this  paper,  both  free  men  of  color,  both 
deceased,  both  occupying  honored  graves.  .  .  ,  [and]  all  old  citizens  who 
knew  them,  all  esteemed  them.  .  .  . 

Nelson  Fitzhugh  has  been  wearing  a  mask.  He  is  full  of  deceit  and 
hypocrisy.  He  has  worn  two  faces.  He  has  been  a  systematic  hypocrit  all  his 
life.  He  never  was  more  than  a  mask  which  concealed  deformity  and 
turpitude.  ...  He  is  now  a  radical  agent  and  disseminating  poison  of  the 
literary  kind  stirring  up  bad  blood.139 

The  free  black  whom  historians  know  most  about  was  barber  William  Johnson.  His  multi- 
volumed  diaries,  business  records,  and  letters  reveal  exactly  what  options  were  open  to  the 
so-called  free  people  of  color  in  Natchez.  Although  this  is  not  the  place  to  present  a 


137.  U.S.  Census  (1850,  1860),  Manuscript  Population  Schedules,  Adams  County,  Mississippi,  Wills,  February 
5,  1868,  Adams  County  Will  Book,  Vol.  3,  Office  of  Records,  Natchez,  Mississippi. 

138.  The  Natchez  Weekly  Courier,  November  9,  1859;  see  also  Black  History  Collection  File,  The  Historic 
Natchez  Foundation. 

139.  The  Natchez  Weekly  Courier,  November  10,  1866. 

63 


systematic  interpretation  of  the  Johnson  materials,  two  points  can  be  made:  firstly,  the 
legal  constraints  governing  the  "free  people  of  color"  in  antebellum  Mississippi  were 
weakly  applied  in  the  case  of  those  blacks  who  enjoyed  the  patronage  of  leading  white 
citizens,  who  confined  their  business  ventures  to  service  work  at  the  margins  of  the 
economy,  and  who  exhibited  in  their  attitude  and  deportment  a  sense  of  gratitude  for  the 
gift  of  their  freedom.  Secondly,  the  rewards  offered  to  free  blacks  of  initiative  and  proper 
deportment,  while  comparatively  substantial,  were  always  limited  to  the  affirmation  of 
their  marginal  roles  in  the  larger  Natchez  community.14 

What  is  most  striking  about  the  Johnson  diaries,  is  how  revealing  they  are  of  the  great 
satisfaction  he  took  in  the  simple  pleasure  of  being  free.  His  diaries  are  filled  with  the 
busied  details  of  his  active  (and  vigorously  embraced)  freedom:  hunting,  eating,  walking 
around,  idleness,  horseracing,  footrunning,  giving  orders,  loaning  petty  sums  of  money, 
endless  though  limited  gossip,  and  dozens  of  inconsequential  intimacies  with  whites  of  all 
classes,  as  if  to  proclaim  —  if  only  for  his  own  eyes  —  that  he  was  truly  free. 

What  Johnson's  diaries  exclude,  however,  are  observations,  feelings,  thoughts,  and 
opinions  about  the  life  he  lived.  Nowhere  in  the  journals  do  we  find  the  slightest  hint  at 
self-reflection  on  what  it  meant  to  be  a  free  person  of  color  in  Natchez.  The  reader  is  left 
to  wonder  what  Johnson  thought  about:  (1)  the  articles  read  in  the  numerous  journals  to 
which  he  subscribed,  (2)  not  being  able  to  race  his  horse  (though  he  loved  racing  dearly) 
in  formal  competition,  (3)  why  his  slaves  were  so  irresponsible  in  contrast  to  his  own  sense 
of  responsibility,  (4)  his  peculiar  friendship  with  several  white  elites  in  the  community,  (5) 
the  politics  that  raged  all  around  him,  (6)  slavery,  (7)  his  family,  (8)  not  being  allowed  to 
strike  a  blow  in  righteous  anger  against  any  white  who  might  have  insulted  him  —  a  right 
which  most  whites  carried  around  displayed  on  their  shirt  lapels,  if  Johnson's  notes  can 
be  believed,  (9)  religion,  and  (10)  life  as  a  "free  person  of  color." 

What  does  come  through,  however,  is  the  depth  of  Johnson's  unexamined  gratitude.  To 
read  his  diaries  is  to  observe  that  Johnson  was  indeed  a  grateful  man,  grateful  that  he 
was  free  to  simply  imbibe  in  life;  grateful  and  proud  of  his  good  reputation,  of  the 
opportunity  for  being  clever  at  games,  for  the  patronage  bestowed  upon  him,  for  his  "mixed 
blood"  heritage;  grateful  to  be  able  to  search  for  lost  cows,  to  have  boarders  and  customers, 
to  shoot  and  slaughter  wildlife  with  reckless  abandonment,  to  shave  and  comb  the  faces 
and  heads  of  white  men  and  women  both  living  and  dead,  to  own  second  rate  racing  nags, 
to  sup  occasionally  at  the  table  of  his  white  neighbors,  to  issue  passes  to  his  slaves 
enabling  them  to  attend  "darky"  parties,  to  stand  around  where  he  pleased  unaccosted,  to 
read  and  to  write  without  penalty,  and  to  step  aside  for  no  man  because  no  man  took 
offense  at  his  presence. 

His  diary,  to  sum  it  up,  is  a  richly  detailed  outpouring  of  gratitude,  written  as  if  Johnson 
were  offering  testimony  to  some  unknown,  or  perhaps  internalized,  overseer.  Yet,  to  be 
fair,  it  would  have  been  astounding  for  the  largely  self-educated  barber  to  have  recorded 
anything  else.  For  one  thing,  the  most  noteworthy  fact  of  Johnson's  life  was  his  freedom, 


140.  Edwin  Adams  Davis  and  William  Ransom  Hogan,  The  Barber  of Natchez  (Baton  Rouge.  La.,  1954,  1973): 
Davis  and  Hogan,  (ed.),  William  Johnson's  Natchez:  The  Antc-Bcllum  Diary  of  a  Free  Negro,  Volumes  I  and 
II  (Baton  rouge.  La..  19511;  the  William  Johnson  Family  Papers,  LSU.  (More  information  on  Johnson  is 
included  in  chapter  V  below) 

64 


and  the  freedom  of  simple  physical  movement  was  no  mean  thing  to  have,  or  to  observe, 
in  a  day  and  age  when  almost  all  other  "people  of  color"  were  confined  to  place  and 
constrained  by  whips  and  rules  and  overbearing  supervision,  regardless  of  their 
deportment. 

Still,  the  most  blatant  fact  about  the  diaries,  and  one  pregnant  with  implications,  is  the 
unreflecting  shallowness  of  the  (obviously  ample  and  intelligent)  mind  that  moved 
Johnson's  quill  to  write.  It  is  almost  as  if  Johnson's  manumission  (perhaps  by  the  very 
nature  of  its  process)  had  only  freed  his  body.  Or  else  there  is  more  to  the  diary  than  is 
easily  revealed  at  first  glance.141 

Ironically,  Johnson  was  killed  by  a  fellow  free  black  who  escaped  conviction  by  managing 
to  pass  himself  off  as  a  white  man  of  mixed  blood  —  the  blood  of  an  Indian  parent.  Under 
the  limitations  imposed  on  all  blacks  was  the  universally  accepted  notion  that  no  black 
person  could  offer  testimony  against  a  white  person,  in  this  case  a  mulatto  boy  who  had 
witnessed  the  murder.  Thus  Johnson's  killer  escaped  justice.  But  a  man  of  Johnson's 
character  could  not  be  allowed  to  pass  unnoticed  by  the  white  community.  His  death  was 
called  the  "shocking  murder"  of  a  "most  inoffensive  man,"  one  who  had  gained  a  "respected 
position  on  account  of  his  character,  intelligence  and  deportment."  In  respect  for  his 
conformity  to  the  limitations  demanded  of  him,  Johnson's  body  was  buried  —  without 
protest  insofar  as  we  know  —  in  the  white  section  of  the  Natchez  cemetery.    i 


Natchez  "free  persons  of  color,"  to  summarize  the  points  made  above,  lived  in  a  highly 
complex  world.  At  first  glance,  they  were  somewhat  integrated  in  the  sense  of  where  they 
lived  and  with  whom  they  associated.  Some  of  them,  moreover,  achieved  substantial 
property  and  status  within  the  constraints  established  by  the  dominant  white  culture. 
Most  of  them  could  move  around  town  freely,  could  shop  and  trade  and  partake  of  life 
without  much  physical  threat  to  themselves  or  their  families,  and  could  earn  and  spend 
money  without  fear  of  confiscation  or  abuse.  Freedom  had  its  definite  advantages. 


141.  Perhaps  Johnson  was  simply  a  typical  male  diary  keeper,  unused  to  expressing  feelings  and  emotions 
as  a  function  of  his  gender.  Yet,  such  a  conclusion  fails  to  explain  why  so  much  was  left  out  of  his  diary  that 
casual  observation  would  have  included.  Johnson  records  life  selectively,  unreflectively,  and  with  so  little 
observation  of  his  plight  in  life  that  his  diary  can  be  read  almost  as  if  it  were  written  in  an  intellectual  and 
emotional  vacuum.  To  take  the  diary  at  face  value  is  to  assume  that  Johnson  was  genuinely  unaffected  by 
the  dilemma  of  being  a  "free  person  of  color"  amidst  a  sea  of  slavery.  What  is  even  more  intriguing  is  the 
evidence  in  the  Johnson  family  papers  suggestive  of  a  secret  life  left  unrecorded  in  the  journals.  For  one  thing, 
we  know  very  little  (from  reading  the  diaries)  about  Johnson's  religious  beliefs,  trips  to  New  Orleans,  or 
relations  with  his  white  patrons.  Yet  his  papers  indicate  that  Johnson's  children  were  all  baptized  as  Catholics 
in  the  St.  Louis  Cathedral  in  New  Orleans,  and  that  his  association  with  leading  members  of  the  Natchez 
plantation  elite  resembled  something  close  to  family  intimacy.  See  the  Johnson  Papers,  LSU,  Baton  Rouge, 
Louisiana. 

142.  Davis  and  Hogan,  (ed.),  William  Johnson's  Natchez:  The  Ante-Bellum  Diary  of  a  Free  Negro:  pp. 
262-272. 

65 


But  freedom  for  Natchez  blacks  was  not  the  opposite  of  slavery.  Each  "free  person  of  color" 
was  expected  to  function  as  an  essentially  marginal  person.  The  extent  of  one's  freedom 
depended  upon  one's  deportment  as  well  as  one's  conformity  to  a  role  in  life  limited  to 
accommodating  the  white  community  in  the  work  performed  as  well  as  in  one's  public 
demeanor.  The  free  blacks  of  Natchez  lived,  in  other  words,  somewhere  between  slavery 
and  freedom. 


66 


THE  NATCHEZ  SLAVE  MARKET 


Antebellum  Natchez  was  more  than  a  settlement  of  white  masters,  free  blacks,  and 
enslaved  people;  more  than  a  cotton  depot  and  stopping  point  in  the  river  trade.  It  was, 
most  of  all,  the  second  largest  market,  after  New  Orleans,  for  the  buying  and  selling  of 
slaves  in  the  lower  Mississippi  River  Valley.14 

After  1808,  with  the  abolishment  of  the  international  slave  trade  in  the  United  States, 
Natchez  district  planters  were  forced  to  rely  on  domestic  supplies  of  slaves  to  work  their 
thriving  plantation  economy.  It  has  been  estimated  that  nearly  200,000  slaves  were 
transported  into  Mississippi  from  the  so-called  "Old  South"  in  the  decades  from  1810  to 
1860.  Although  many  of  these  slaves  were  brought  by  migrating  planters,  the  majority,  it 
seems  clear  on  the  basis  of  recent  scholarship,  were  carried  to  Mississippi  by  professional 
slave  traders.  Planters  and  traders  alike  limited  their  cargos  of  slaves  to  droves  and 
shipments  of  single  men  and  women  between  the  ages  of  13  and  25.  The  middle-aged, 
elderly,  and  infant  black  children  were  usually  left  behind.  Seldom  did  traders  buy  black 
husbands,  wives,  and  children  as  family  groups,  although  a  substantial  number  of 
enslaved  children  were  allowed  (or  required  at  times  by  Louisiana  law)  to  accompany  their 
mothers  —  or  at  least  an  adult  woman  who  may  have  been  the  mother  of  the  slave  child 
(children)  at  her  side.144 

How  many  of  these  adults  were  married  is  impossible  to  determine,  but  it  is  certain  that 
most  of  them  were  taken  from  relatively  stable  families  in  Maryland,  Virginia,  Kentucky, 
and  the  Carolinas.  There  is  good  reason  to  believe,  moreover,  that  many  of  the  single 
women  between  the  ages  of  21  and  25  were  forced  to  leave  children  and  husbands  behind. 
The  same  can  be  said  for  slave  men  ages  23  and  older.14 


143.  Frederick  Bancroft,  Slave  Trading  in  the  Old  South  (Baltimore,  Maryland,  1931);  Joseph  H.  Ingraham, 
The  South  West  by  a  Yankee  2  vols.  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1835),  II,  pp.  120-270;  Wendell  Holmes  Stephenson,  Issac 
Franklin:   Slave  Trader  and  Planter  of  the  Old  South  (Gloucester,  Mass.,  1968). 

144.  For  introductory  material  on  the  character  of  domestic  slave  trade  from  the  upper-to  the  lower-South 
see  Bancroft,  Slave  Trading;  E.A.  Andrews,  Slavery  and  the  Domestic  Slave-Trade  in  the  United  States 
(Boston,  Mass..  1836);  W.  Calderhead,  "How  Extensive  was  the  Border  State  Slave  Trade?  A  New  Look,"  Civil 
War  History,  XXVII  (1972),  pp.  42-55;  Winfield  H.  Collins,  The  Domestic  Slave  Trade  of  the  Southern  States 
(New  York,  N.Y.,  1904);  T.D.  Clark,  "The  Slave  Trade  Between  Kentucky  and  the  Cotton  Kingdom."  The 
Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Review  XXI  (1915),  pp.  331-342;  Robert  W.  Fogel  and  Stanley  L.  Engerman,  Time 
on  the  Cross,  2  vols.  (Boston,  Mass.,  1974),  I,  pp.  37-58;  P.  David,  H.  Gutman,  R.  Sutch,  et  al.,  Reckoning  with 
Slavery:  A  Critical  Study  in  the  Quantitative  History  of  American  Negro  Slaver  (New  York,  NY.,  1976),  pp. 
949-133;  Ulrich  B.  Phillips,  American  Negro  Slavery  (New  York,  NY.,  1918);  Philip  J.  Schwarz,  The 
Transportation  of  Slaves  from  Virginia,  1801-1865;  "Slavery  &  Abolition  VII  (December,  1986),  pp.  215-240; 
Stephenson,  Issac  Franklin:  Donald  M.  Sweig,  "Reassessing  the  Human  Dimension  of  the  Interstate  Slave 
Trade,"  Prologue  XII  (Spring,  1980),  pp.  5-19;  Charles  S.  Sydnor,  Slavery  in  Mississippi  (New  York,  N.Y.. 
1933),  pp.  131-180;  Michael  Tadman,  Speculators  and  Slaves:  Masters,  Traders,  and  Slaves  in  the  Old  South 
(Madison,  Wisconsin,  1988);  A.A.  Taylor,  "The  Movement  of  Negroes  from  the  East  to  the  Gulf  States  from 
1830  to  1850."  Journal  of  Negro  History  VIII  (October,  1923),  pp.  367-383. 

145.  Tadman,  Speculators  and  Slaves,  pp.  133-138 

67 


As  had  been  the  case  in  the  colonial  era,  traders  brought  their  slaves  to  Natchez  via 
coastal,  river,  and  land  passages  from  the  upper  South.  Tens  of  thousands  of  slaves  were 
purchased,  in  the  decades  from  1810  to  1860,  in  Virginia,  Maryland,  the  Carolinas, 
Alabama,  and  Georgia  for  shipment  in  coastal  vessels  to  New  Orleans.  Ship's  captains 
were  required  to  register  their  slave  passengers  with  customs  officials  and  to  certify  that 
none  of  the  slaves  were  from  outside  the  United  States.  The  slave  manifests  listed  the 
outgoing  ports,  destinations,  shippers,  owners,  and  information  on  each  slave  on  board: 
first  name,  sex,  age,  height,  and  color.  The  slave  vessels,  defined  by  law  as  ships  forty  tons 
or  more,  ranged  from  steamboats  to  brigs,  schooners,  and  ships.  Any  captain  failing  to 
comply  with  the  registry  suffered  stiff  fines  and  possible  confiscation  of  his  cargo  and  ship. 
No  regulations  governed  the  sanitary  conditions  on  board  the  slave  vessels.  Although  the 
history  of  the  coastal  trade  includes  many  cases  of  slaves  being  smuggled  into  the  country 
from  Africa  and  the  West  Indies,  most  of  the  slaves  coming  to  Natchez  via  the  coastal 
route  were  native  born  by  1850. 146  (See  ILLUSTRATIONS  E  and  H) 

The  voyage  on  the  coastal  ships  could  take  from  four  to  twenty  days,  depending  on  the 
distance  traveled.  Although  relatively  fast  and  reliable,  with  set  sailing  schedules  and 
specialized  slave  ships,  the  coastal  voyages  were  not  without  problems.  Ships  were  known 
to  capsize  in  storms,  to  blow  up,  and  to  be  taken  over  by  rebellious  slaves.  Debilitating 
seasickness  affected  most  slaves,  requiring  expensive  hold-over  time  in  slave-pens  at  the 
markets  of  destination.  Insurance  policies,  too,  were  expensive  and  difficult  to 
collect  on. 

Shippers  sent  100  to  150  slaves  on  trader-owned  vessels  or  as  few  as  one  or  two  slaves  on 
regular  passenger  and  cargo  ships.  The  average  lot  shipped  was  about  twenty  slaves.  Costs 
from  Baltimore  to  New  Orleans,  in  the  1840s,  stood  at  around  $12  per  slave  12  years  and 
older,  and  half  that  price  for  children.148 


146.  An  "Act  to  Prohibit  the  Importation  of  Slaves,"  passed  in  1807,  allowed  the  coastal  movement  of  slaves 
aboard  slave  ships  as  long  as  cargo  manifests  giving  specific  information  for  each  slave  were  filed  at  the  point 
of  delivery.  The  manifests  were  intended  to  prevent  the  smuggling  of  African  or  West  Indian  slaves  among 
the  lot  of  slaves  on  board  either  by  switching  or  by  adding  them  to  the  cargo  once  enroute.  Substantial  records 
of  manifest  for  ships  leaving  Savannah,  Mobile,  Charleston,  Baltimore,  Alexandria,  Norfolk,  and  Richmond 
for  New  Orleans  are  held  at  the  National  Archives  in  Records  of  the  U.S.  Customs  Service.  Record  Group  36. 
As  of  this  writing,  most  of  the  records  for  Savannah  and  Charleston  have  been  examined  for  cargoes  destined 
for  New  Orleans  and  transhipment  to  Natchez.  The  bulk  of  the  Natchez  bound  manifests  appear  to  be  those 
out  of  Alexandria,  especially  the  slave  manifests  for  the  firm  of  Isaac  Franklin  and  Company.  A  Cursory 
reading  of  the  records  indicates  that  further  research  should  be  able  to  identify  slaves  by  surnames  among  the 
Franklin  records  headed  for  New  Orleans  and  Natchez.  See  Sweig,  "Reassessing  the  Human  Dimension  of 
the  Interstate  Slave  Trade,"  pp.  5-19;  Charles  H.  Wesley,  "Manifests  of  Slave  Shipments  Along  the  Waterways, 
1808-1864,"  Journal  of  Negro  History,  XXVII  (April,  42),  pp.  155-174. 

147.  Tadma".  Speculators  and  Slaves. 

148.  The  firm  of  Franklin  and  Company  owned  four  slave  ships  used  in  the  coastal  trade:  The  United  States, 
the  Tribune,  the  Uncas,  and  the  Isaac  Franklin.  One  cargo  of  slaves  bound  for  Natchez  aboard  the  Brig  Isaac 
Franklin  in  1836  docked  at  New  Orleans  with  168  slaves  on  board,  ranging  in  age  from  72  years  to  several 
small  children  2  years  old.  That  same  year  Franklin's  Brig,  the  Tribune  landed  at  New  Orleans  with  twenty- 
five  slaves.  Franklin  sent  such  cargoes  on  a  regular  basis  for  most  of  the  1830s.  See  Cargo  Manifest,  1836, 
among  litigation  materials  of  Henry  Turner  and  Rice  Ballard  in  the  John  A.  Quitman  Papers.  Southern 
Historical  Collection.  University  of  North  Carolina,  Chapel  Hill.  North  Carolina  (hereafter  cited  at  SHO;  also 
there  is  a  price  listing  and  manifest  of  slaves  aboard  the  Brig  Victorine  out  of  Baltimore  to  New  Orleans  with 
a  load  of  slaves  bound  for  Natchez  in  1844,  John  Knight  Papers,  Duke  University.  Raleigh.  North  Carolina 
(hereafter  cited  as  DU). 

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69 


Quarters  on  the  slave  ships  resembled  stowage  on  the  infamous  "middle  passage" 
according  to  one  abolitionist  observer: 

The  hold  was  appropriated  to  the  slaves,  and  is  divided  into  two 
apartments.  The  after-hold  will  carry  about  eighty  women,  and  the  other 
about  one  hundred  men.  On  either  side  were  two  platforms  running  the 
whole  length;  one  raised  a  few  inches,  and  the  other  half  way  up  the  deck. 
They  were  about  five  or  six  feet  deep.  On  these  the  slaves  lie,  as  close  as 
they  can  be  stowed.149 

Once  in  New  Orleans,  the  slaves  would  be  housed  in  slave-pens  and  "jails"  awaiting  buyers 
or  shipment  to  other  markets.  Local  sugar  planters,  who  preferred  young  men  ages  13  to 
25,  bought  the  majority  of  coastal  slaves  that  landed  in  New  Orleans  from  the  upper 
South;  the  rest  were  usually  sold  to  upcountry  cotton  planters  and  interior  traders,  who 
generally  preferred  males  and  females  equally,  ages  13  to  25.  Some  New  Orleans  slaves 
were  also  transhipped  to  Texas  and  even  back  eastward  to  smaller  ports  in  Mississippi, 
Georgia,  and  Florida.150 

A  significant  portion  of  the  slaves  brought  to  New  Orleans  were  transhipped  to  Natchez 
for  sale  to  Mississippi  and  Louisiana  planters.  Some  traders  sailed  up  the  Mississippi 
River  with  Virginia  and  Maryland  slaves  in  large  slave  ships  similar  to  the  practice  of 
colonial  slavers  in  the  previous  century.  But  most  coastal  slaves  arrived  at  Natchez  aboard 
steamboats  and  keelboats.  The  latter  vessels  would  be  poled  and  pulled  upriver, 
occasionally  using  the  slaves  themselves  as  part  of  the  towing  gang.  Few  coastal  slaves 
appear  to  have  walked  to  Natchez  from  New  Orleans  in  the  period  after  1830. 151 

Competing  with  the  coastal  water  routes  were  the  overland  voyages  made  by  slave  coffles. 
Although  it  is  not  clear  just  how  many  Natchez  slaves  arrived  via  the  overland  route,  the 
number  was  probably  substantial.  For  most  traders,  the  land  routes  were  cheaper,  less 
risky  than  water,  and  included  the  possibility  of  buying  and  selling  slaves  along  the  way. 
Mississippi  slave  trader  R.  C.  Faulkner  advised  his  agent  in  Virginia  in  no  uncertain 
terms  of  his  opinion  of  a  coastal  voyage: 

Dear  Powell:  Yours  of  the  15th  August  was  received  last  mail.  In  which  you 

say  that  you  have  concluded  to  ship  the  negroes by  New  Orleans. 

These  arrangement,  by  all  means,  I  wish  you  not  to  do,  as  it  will  cost  you 
more  in  the  end  and  a  great  deal  of  risque  to  run.  .  .  ,152 


149.  Letter  of  anti-slavery  clergyman  Joshua  Leavitt  written  January  23,   1834  as  quoted  in  Tadman. 
Speculators  and  Slaves,  pp.  80-81. 

150.  Ibid.,  pp.  133-179;  Sweig,  "Reassessing  the  Human  Dimension  of  the  Interstate  Slave  Trade."  pp.  5-19: 
Salve  Manifests.  Inward  Outward,  Mobile,  1840-1860.  RG  36. 

151.  J.H.  Ingraham,  The  SouthWest,  II.  pp.  234-235.  Stephenson,  Isaac  Franklin,  pp.  34-85. 

152.  R.C.  Clinton  to  William  C.  Fitzhugh  Powell,  September  4.  1835,  W.C.F.  Powell  Papers.  DU. 

7(1 


Faulkner  complained  about  the  costs  of  slave  insurance  by  water,  the  unlikelihood  of 
collecting  on  the  policies  should  something  go  wrong,  and  the  greater  risk  of  sickness  by 
sea.  He  also  favored  the  land  route  because  wagons  and  mules  and  horses  used  to 
transport  the  slaves  could  be  sold  for  profit  at  journey's  end.  Other  traders  felt  that  the 
long  walk  overland  strengthened  the  slaves  and  thereby  increased  their  market  value.153 

Whatever  advantages  land  travel  offered  traders,  it  was  not  an  easy  journey  for  the  slaves. 
A  British  traveler  left  the  following  account  of  a  slave  coffle  he  came  across  in  western 
Virginia  destined  for  Natchez: 

Just  as  we  reached  New  River,  in  the  early  gray  of  the  morning,  we  came 
up  with  a  singular  spectacle,  the  most  striking  one  of  the  kind  I  have  ever 
witnessed.  It  was  a  camp  of  Negro  slave-drivers,  just  packing  up  to  start; 
they  had  about  three  hundred  slaves  with  them,  who  had  bivouacked  the 
preceeding  night  in  chains  in  the  woods;  these  they  were  conducting  to 
Natchez,  upon  the  Mississippi  River,  to  work  upon  the  sugar  plantations  in 
Louisiana.  It  ressembled  one  of  those  coffles  of  slaves  spoken  of  by  Mungo 
Park,  except  that  they  had  a  caravan  of  nine  wagons  and  singlehorse 
carriages,  for  the  purpose  of  conducting  the  white  people,  and  any  of  the 
blacks  that  should  fall  lame,  to  which  they  were  now  putting  their  horses 
to  pursue  their  march.  The  female  slaves  were,  some  of  them,  sitting  on  logs 
of  wood,  whilst  others  were  standing,  and  a  great  many  little  black  children 
were  warming  themselves  at  the  fires  of  the  bivouac.  In  front  of  them  all 
and  prepared  for  the  march  stood,  in  double  file,  about  two  hundred  male 
slaves,  manacled  and  chained  to  one  another.154 

Dozens  of  such  coffles,  ranging  in  size  from  fifteen  to  several  hundred  slaves,  plied  the 
stage  roads  and  Indian  trails  from  the  upper-South  to  Natchez  in  the  1830s,  40s,  and  60s. 
Although  charting  the  slave  routes  to  Natchez  awaits  systematic  analysis  of  manuscript 
and  travel  records,  three  routes  appear  to  have  been  the  ones  most  frequently  used:  from 
the  upper-South  by  way  of  the  Wilderness  Road  through  the  Cumberland  Gap  and  on  to 
Nashville  and  the  Natchez  Trace,  from  the  Carolinas  via  stage  roads  from  Montgomery  or 
Tuscaloosa,  and  across  the  coastal  stretch  from  Florida  swinging  up  to  Natchez  at  Mobile 
or  Pensacola.  Traders  commonly  used  any  and  all  of  the  above  routes  depending  on  the 
circumstances  of  the  moment.155 

The  caravans  could  make  about  twenty  to  thirty  miles  per  day,  meaning  that  a  trek  from 
Virginia  might  take  several  months.  The  typical  procedure  was  to  march  the  slaves  in 
lines  segregated  by  gender  and  age.  Men  marched  in  single  or  double  file  linked  together 


153.  Ibid.:  Tadman,  Speculators  and  Slaves,  pp.  71-83. 

154.  G.W.  Featherstonhaugh,  Excursions  through  the  Slave  States,  from  Washington  on  the  Potomac  to  the 
Frontier  of  Mexico:  with  Sketches  of  Popular  Manners  and  Geological  Notices,  2  vols.  (London,  1844),  I.  pp. 
36-37,  120-122;  see  also  John  W.  Blassingame,  (ed.),  Slave  Testimony:  Two  Centuries  of  Letters,  Speeches, 
Interviews,  and  Autobiographies  (Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1977)  for  scattered  references  to  the  character  of  the  sla%'e 
coffles. 

155.  The  piecing  together  of  these  routes  resulted  form  reading  travel  accounts  and  diverse  sources  too 
numerous  to  list. 

71 


by  iron  collars  and  lengthy  chains.  The  single  women  followed,  tied  to  one  another  by 
ropes.  Usually  the  children  took  up  the  middle,  followed  by  mothers,  wagons,  and  riders. 
With  small  groups,  the  line  was  less  uniform.  Some  traders  carried  tents  with  them  for 
shelter.  Others  made  use  of  slave  jails  and  slave  barns  along  the  way.  Most  appear  to  have 
simply  camped  out  with  blankets  issued  each  evening  and  collected  in  the  morning.15 

We  have  no  way  of  knowing  the  loss  of  life  and  limb  suffered  by  slaves  on  the  trail.  It  is 
doubtful,  however,  that  the  risks  were  great  seeing  as  traders  seldom  mentioned 
rebellions,  accidents,  or  deaths  in  the  extant  records.157  Nor  do  we  have  a  systematic 
study  of  the  emotional  and  spiritual  costs  borne  by  the  enslaved  as  they  trudged  from 
Virginia  to  Natchez.  Very  few  of  the  thousands  who  made  the  trip  could  hope  to  see  again 
their  families  and  friends.  In  this  context,  the  land  route  was  similar  to  the  coastal 
trade  —  and,  indeed,  to  the  original  passage  from  Africa. 

Observers  frequently  commented  on  the  customary  and  often  involuntary  singing  of  the 
slaves  as  they  marched.  Sullen  despondent  slaves  would  shuffle  along  the  trails  for  weeks, 
ill  housed,  often  sick,  and  frequently  desperate  in  their  anguish.  Slave  traders  used  whips 
and  carried  weapons  to  keep  the  group  afoot.  Singing  was  induced  by  drivers  and  traders 
to  pace  the  slaves  in  step  and  to  counter  the  emotional  depression  that  often  led  to 
malingering  and  insubordination.  The  sad  lyrics  reproduced  below  were  said  to  be 
commonly  sung  by  slaves  in  coffles  whenever  they  could  sing  the  words  of  their  own 
choosing: 


156.  Tadman.  Speculators  and  Slaves,  pp.  71-74;  Blassingame.  Slave  Testimony,  pp.  128,  131-134.  277-279 
303-304.  405.  504.  556.  575.  704-706. 

157.  Among  the  pertinent  manuscript  collections  consulted  for  information  on  the  overland  trade  are  the 
following:  Archibald  H.  Boyd  Papers,  DU;  John  A.  Forsyth  Papers.  DU;  Tyre  Glen  Papers.  DU;  Jarratt- 
Puryear  Family  Papers.  DU;  Ellison  Keitt  Papers.  Black  History  Collection.  The  Library  of  Congress.. 
Washington,  DC.  (hereafter  cited  as  LC);  James  A.  Mitchell  papers.  DT'.  Sterling  Neblett  Papers.  DU;  William 
C.  F.  Powell  Papers.  DU;  Francis  Everod  Rives  Papers.  DU; 

72 


Coffle  Song158 

Oh!  fare  ye  well,  my  bonny  love, 
I'm  gwine  away  to  leave  you, 
A  long  farewell  for  ever  love, 
Don't  let  our  parting  grieve  you 
(Chorus)  Oh!  fare  ye  well,  etc. 

The  way  is  long  before  me,  love, 

And  all  my  love's  behind  me; 

You'll  seek  me  down  by  the  old  gum  tree 

But  none  of  you  will  find  me 

I'll  send  you  my  love  by  the  whoop-o'-will; 
The  dove  shall  bring  my  sorrow; 
leave  you  a  drop  of  my  heart's  own  blood, 
For  I  won't  be  back  to-morrow. 

And  when  we're  moldering  in  the  clay, 
All  those  will  weep  who  love  us; 
But  it  won't  be  long  till  my  Jesus  come, 
He  sees  and  reigns  above  us. 

Fugitive  slave  William  W.  Brown,  who  had  worked  as  a  slave  for  a  trader  on  the 
Mississippi  River,  remembered  far  angrier  words  sung  by  enslaved  African-Americans  as 
they  were  being  driven  southwest  in  coffles: 


158.  From  the  testimony  of  Sella  Martin,  written  in  1867,  as  reproduced  in  Blassingame,  Slave  Testimony. 
pp.  704-705. 

159.  William  Wells  Brown,  The  Narrative  of  William  W.  Brown:  A  Fugitive  Slave  (Boston,  Mass.:   1848),  pp. 
20-21. 

73 


See  these  poor  souls  from  Africa 
Transported  to  America; 

We  are  stole,  and  sold  to  Georgia  [Mississippi! 
Will  you  go  along  with  me? 
We  are  stolen,  and  sold  to  Georgia- 
Come  sound  the  jubilee! 

See  wives  and  husbands  sold  apart, 
Their  children's  screams  will  break 

my  heart;  — 
There's  a  better  day  a  coming  — 
Will  you  go  along  with  me? 
There's  a  better  day  a  coming, 
go  sound  the  jubilee! 

O'  gracious  Lord!  When  shall  it  be, 
That  we  poor  souls  shall  all  be  free? 
There's  a  better  day  a  coming  — 
Will  you  go  along  with  me? 
There's  a  better  day  a  coming, 
Go  sound  the  jubilee!" 

As  the  coffle  approached  Natchez,  the  enslaved  party  would  encamp  for  several  days  a  few 
miles  from  town  so  the  slaves  could  be  issued  new  clothes  (usually  two  sets  were  taken 
along),  bathe  and  prepare  themselves  for  sale,  and  be  lectured  on  how  to  conduct 
themselves  in  the  market  place.  Then  the  slaves  would  be  marched  to  town,  forced  to  sing 
and  step  lively  so  as  to  appear  to  be  a  "likely"  lot  eager  to  please  their  new  masters. 

Coming  "down  river"  from  Kentucky,  Missouri,  Tennessee,  and  the  upper-South  was  the 
third  major  route  used  to  deliver  slaves  to  the  Natchez  market.  Although  the  river  passage 
appears  to  have  been  less  strenuous  at  first  glance,  it  usually  involved  some  overland 
trekking,  risky  boat  trips,  passage  through  mosquito  infested  territory,  and  heavy 
expenses.  Slave  coffles  were  frequently  gathered  in  the  principal  Virginia  and  Maryland 
markets  and  marched  over  the  mountains  to  Wheeling,  Virginia,  for  passage  on  riverboats 
down  the  Ohio  River  to  the  Mississippi  and  on  to  Natchez.  Carolina  traders  trekked 
overland  through  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains  to  Sycamore  Shoals  north  of  the  Great 
Smokey  Mountains,  where  they  followed  river  routes  through  the  mountains  to  the 
Holston  River.  On  the  Holston,  a  party  could  float  into  the  Tennessee  and  eventually  join 
the  Ohio  River  en  route  to  the  Mississippi  River  at  Cairo,  Illinois.  Six  hundred  additional 
miles  would  bring  the  group  to  Natchez.  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Missouri  slave  traders 
followed  a  similar  route  to  Natchez,  via  the  Cumberland,  Tennessee,  and  Ohio  rivers.  In 
all,  a  river  venture  might  cover  more  than  2000  miles,  taking  several  months  to  complete 
at  the  float  rate  of  4  miles  per  hour. 

Although  almost  any  type  of  river  craft  could  be  used  in  the  river  trade,  four  types  seemed 
to  predominate:  flat-bottomed  riverboats,  arks,  steamboats,  and  keelboats.  Because  most 
of  the  voyage  was  downstream,  the  passage  could  be  undertaken  with  little  resort  to 
animal  or  steam  power.  Slaves  would  be  loaded  on  flatboats  and  forced  to  sit  on  open 
decks,  usually  surrounded  by  boxes  of  cargo  and  supplies.  Wagons  and  animals  could  also 


7-1 


be  loaded  for  shipment.  Arks  were  more  typically  used  by  migrating  rural  families  and 
resembled  farms  afloat.  Small  traders  could  book  passage  on  such  vessels,  confining  their 
human  cargo  among  the  animals  and  farm  produce  aboard.  Keelboats,  used  mainly  to  haul 
cargo  up  river  by  tow  lines  and  poling,  were  less  employed  after  1830,  but  still  offered  a 
possible  alternative  for  passage  on  boats  returning  from  Memphis  or  Cincinnati  to  New 
Orleans.  Steamboats  carried  slaves  and  ballast  of  all  sorts,  but  were  used  principally  by 
the  traders  for  mainline  trips,  from  Memphis  or  St.  Louis  for  example  to  Natchez. 

Again,  precise  information  as  to  costs,  duration,  and  the  experience  itself  is  unavailable 
at  this  writing  so  as  to  say  much  about  what  the  river  route  entailed  for  the  black  slaves 
taken  to  Natchez.  Impressionistic  evidence  suggests  that  the  bulk  of  the  slaves  brought 
to  the  Natchez  market  probably  arrived  by  riverboat  or  overland.  Advertisements  of 
traders  in  the  local  newspapers  commonly  spoke  of  boatloads  of  slaves  arriving  fresh  from 
Kentucky,  Virginia,  and  Maryland.  Numerous  travel  accounts  comment  on  the  cargos  of 
slaves  docked  at  the  landing  ready  for  unloading  and  sale.  Nearly  fifty  flatboats  were  sunk 
at  the  landing  in  a  devastating  tornado  that  struck  the  town  in  1840,  drowning  several 
hundred  slaves.160 

The  boat  trip  was  usually  a  harrowing  experience  in  which  the  slaves  were  confined  by 
chains  in  steerage  or  on  the  open  decks.  One  of  the  most  insightful  accounts  of  the  river 
passage  to  Natchez  was  written  by  the  ex-slave  William  W.  Brown,  who  had  worked 
briefly  for  a  "soul  driver"  on  the  Mississippi.  His  account  of  one  trip  is  reproduced  below: 

A  few  weeks  after,  on  our  downward  passage,  the  boat  took  on  board,  at 
Hannibal,  a  drove  of  slaves  bound  for  the  New  Orleans  market.  They 
numbered  from  fifty  to  sixty,  consisting  of  men  and  women  from  eighteen 
to  forty  years  of  age.  A  drove  of  slaves  on  a  southern  steamboat,  bound  for 
the  cotton  or  sugar  regions,  is  an  occurrence  so  common,  that  no  one,  not 
even  the  passengers,  appear  to  notice  it,  though  they  clang  their  chains  at 
every  step. 


When  I  learned  the  fact  of  my  having  been  hired  to  a  negro  speculator,  or 
a  "soul  driver,"  as  they  are  generally  called  among  slaves,  no  one  can  tell  my 
emotions.  On  entering  the  service  of  Mr.  Walker,  I  found  that  my 
opportunity  of  getting  to  a  land  of  liberty  was  gone,  at  least  for  the  time 
being.  He  had  a  gang  of  slaves  in  readiness  to  start  for  New  Orleans,  and 
in  a  few  days  we  were  on  our  journey.  .  .  . 

There  was  on  the  boat  a  large  room  on  the  lower  deck,  in  which  the  slaves 
were  kept,  men  and  women,  promiscuously  —  all  chained  two  and  two,  and 
a  strict  watch  kept  that  they  did  not  get  loose;  a  few  cases  have  occurred  in 
which  slaves  have  got  off  their  chains,  and  made  their  escape  at  landing- 
places,  while  the  boats  were  taking  in  wood;  —  and  with  all  our  care,  we 


160.     See  Mississippi  Free  Trader,  May  14,  1840;  Tornado  File,  Historic  Natchez  Foundation,  Natchez. 
Mississippi. 


75 


lost  one  woman  who  had  been  taken  from  her  husband  and  children,  and 
having  no  desire  to  live  without  them,  in  the  agony  of  her  soul  jumped 
overboard,  and  drowned  herself.  She  was  not  chained. 

It  was  almost  impossible  to  keep  that  part  of  the  boat  clean. 

On  landing  at  Natchez,  the  slaves  were  all  carried  to  the  slave-pen,  and 
there  kept  one  week,  during  which  time  several  of  them  were  sold.  Mr. 
Walker  fed  his  slaves  well.  We  took  on  board  at  St.  Louis  several  hundred 
pounds  of  bacon  [smoked  meat]  and  corn-meal,  and  his  slaves  were  better 
fed  than  slaves  generally  were  in  Natchez,  so  far  as  my  observation 
extended. 

At  the  end  of  a  week,  we  left  for  New  Orleans,  the  place  of  our  final 
destination,  which  we  reached  in  two  days.  Here  the  slaves  were  placed  in 
a  negro-pen,  where  those  who  wished  to  purchase  could  call  and  examine 
them.  The  negro-pen  is  a  small  yard,  surrounded  by  buildings,  from  fifteen 
to  twenty  feet  wide,  with  the  exception  of  a  large  gate  with  iron  bars.  The 
slaves  are  kept  in  the  building  during  the  night,  and  turned  out  into  the 
yard  during  the  day.  After  the  best  of  the  stock  was  sold  at  a  private  sale 
at  the  pen,  the  balance  were  taken  to  the  Exchange  Coffee-House  Auction 
Rooms,  kept  by  Isaac  L.  McCoy,  and  sold  at  public  auction.  After  the  sale 
of  this  lot  of  slaves,  we  left  New  Orleans  for  St.  Louis.161 

In  the  1850s,  more  and  more  slaves  were  brought  to  Mississippi  by  train.  Although 
Natchez  had  no  rail  connections  prior  to  the  Civil  War,  slaves  could  be  transported  by  rail 
from  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  Nashville,  Tennessee,  to  Memphis,  and  from  there  on  the 
river  to  Natchez,  or  to  Jackson,  Mississippi,  and  then  via  the  Natchez  Trace  to  Natchez. 
Richmond  and  Petersburg,  Virginia,  had  rail  connections  on  the  eve  of  the  Civil  War  via 
Chattanooga,  Corinth,  and  Memphis.  Atlanta  was  connected  by  rail  and  steamboat  via 
Montgomery  to  Jackson,  Mississippi,  as  was  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  Nearly  every 
train  heading  southwest  in  the  1850s  carried  segregated  "servants"  cars  wherein  slaves  — 
usually  less  than  twenty  —  rode  under  armed  guard.  The  rail  trip  from  Richmond  to 
Montgomery  could  be  accomplished  in  two  or  three  days.  Another  week  of  train,  river,  or 
overland  trekking  would  bring  a  coffle  to  the  Natchez  market  in  relatively  good  time  and 
health.  But  costs  were  probably  higher  than  the  overland,  river,  and  coastal  routes,  with 
less  opportunity  for  trading  along  the  way. 

Whatever  the  routes  used,  traders  brought  their  slaves  to  Natchez  in  record  numbers  in 
the  1830s,  40s,  and  50s.  A  crude  estimate  is  that  the  Natchez  hinterland  (Table  2  in 
Chapter  I),  including  Louisiana  plantations,  contained  approximately  127,000  enslaved 
people  in  1860.  Assuming  that  30  percent  of  the  enslaved  population  had  resulted  from 
district  births  over  deaths,  that  leaves  nearly  90,000  slaves  brought  to  the  region  by 
migrating  planters  and  slave  traders.  Even  if  only  a  small  percentage  had  passed  through 


161.  Brown,  The  Narrative  ofW.W.  Brown,  pp.  11-17. 

162.  T.H.  Wells.  "Moving  a  Plantation  to  Louisiana.  "Louisiana  Studies  VI  (19671,  pp.  278-279;  Tadman, 
Speculators  and  Slaves,  pp. 79-81. 

76 


the  markets  at  Natchez,  it  would  have  meant  several  thousand  slave  sales  yearly  in  the 
generation  prior  to  the  Civil  War. 

Although  it  is  difficult  to  determine  the  precise  number  of  enslaved  people  bought  and  sold 
in  the  Natchez  market,  a  close  reading  of  several  extant  newspapers  tells  us  something 
about  the  trade's  character  and  scale.  Table  8  reflects  the  notices  of  sales  in  the  Natchez 
Weekly  Courier  for  the  year  1850.  According  to  the  advertised  sales,  close  to  1000  slaves 
were  put  on  the  market  in  1850.  In  the  five  months  from  June  to  December,  1854, 
advertisements  in  the  Mississippi  Free  Trader  listed  more  than  800  slaves  on  the  market 
in  Natchez.  The  number  totaled  549  in  the  Free  Trader  for  1858  and  1859  and  742 
(different  advertisements)  for  the  Weekly  Courier. 

These  advertisements  certainly  underrepresented  the  number  of  slaves  in  the  Natchez 
market  by  several  hundred  or  more.  Many  of  the  advertisements  simply  alluded  to  "large 
lots  of  slaves  on  hand"  or  about  to  arrive.  Several  ads  were  boldly  printed  notices  calling 
attention  to  the  words  "SLAVES,  SLAVES,  SLAVES,"  followed  by  the  name  of  the  trader 
and  the  sale  location.  A  typical  notice  in  the  Weekly  Courier  stated  that  "men,  women, 
boys,  and  girls"  were  on  hand  to  be  sold  on  easy  terms.  The  traders  Blackwell,  Murphy, 
and  Ferguson  —  alerted  their  customers  to  the  arrival  of  "#1  Negroes  —  positively  the  last 
lot  of  the  season."  Other  traders  felt  that  it  was  sufficient  merely  to  announce  that  they 
were  back  at  their  "old  stands  at  the  Forks-of-the-Road."163 

Possibly  the  most  active  trader  in  Natchez  in  the  1830s  was  the  firm  of  Franklin, 
Armfield,  and  Ballard.  These  Virginia  and  Maryland-based  traders  are  said  to  have 
shipped  1000  to  1200  slaves  annually  to  the  New  Orleans  and  Natchez  markets.  Most  of 
their  slaves  arrived  via  the  coastal  route  in  firm-owned  slave  brigs  that  steamed  upriver 
to  Natchez  with  their  transhipped  cargoes.  Individual  consignments  to  Natchez  frequently 
numbered  between  40  to  150  slaves.  The  firm  also  sent  slaves  overland  from  Virginia  and 
boatloads  down  the  river  from  Tennessee.  Although  the  company  went  out  of  business  in 
the  early  1840s,  other  operatives  assumed  their  ships,  slave  depots  in  Alexander  and  New 
Orleans  and  Natchez,  and  —  presumably  —  their  far-flung  service  area.1  4 

Within  Natchez,  traders  swapped,  sold,  exhibited,  bargained,  and  plied  the  slave  trade 
with  an  abandonment  that  turned  the  entire  community  into  a  veritable  slave  market  for 
half  the  year.  The  observations  of  a  Yankee  traveler  to  Natchez  in  the  mid-1830s  are 
worth  quoting  at  length  as  evidence  of  the  degree  to  which  the  town  was  consumed  with 
the  trading  of  slaves.  His  comments  describe  a  typical  Sunday  morning  scene: 


163.  Natchez  Weekly  courier,  December  1,  1858;  December  12,  1858;  December  15,  1858;  December  12.  1858; 
March  16,  1859;  October  12,  1859. 

164.  See  Stephenson,  Isaac  Franklin;  Sweigs,  "Reassessing  the  Human  Dimension  of  the  Interstate  Slave 
Trade,"  pp.  5-19;  Sydnor,  Slavery,  pp.  180-131. 

77 


Table  8.    Slave  Sales  in  the  Natchez  Weekly  Courier  in  1850 


Type 


Origins 


January 


Store 

50 

Virginia 

Store 

40 

Unknown 

Plantation 

172 

Local 

Store 

5 

Unknown 

Plantation 

9 

Unknown 

Auction 

4 

Unknown 

February 

Auction 

? 

Unknown 

Auction 

? 

Unknown 

Estate 

34 

Unknown 

Store 

4 

Unknown 

March 

Auction 

60 

Virginia 

Auction 

68 

Local 

Auction 

1 

Unknown 

Forks  Mkt 

80 

Virginia 

April 

Store 

1 

Unknown 

Forks  Mkt 

50 

Virginia 

May 

Forks  Mkt 

125 

Virginia 

Store 

1 

Unknown 

June 

Forks  Mkt 

40 

Virginia 

August 

Store 

1 

Unknown 

September 

Sheriffs  Sale 

1 

Unknown 

Auction 

2 

Unknown 

October 

Auction 

9 

Unknown 

Auction 

12 

Unknown 

November 

Forks  Mkt 

96 

Local 

Store 

1 

Local 

Store 

1 

Local 

Courthouse 

60 

Local 

Auction 

? 

Unknown 

December 

Estate  Sale 

_7 
923 

ry  thru  December, 

Unknown 

Source:  Natchez  Weekly  Courier,  Janua 

1850 

78 


Main  street  is  the  "Broadway"  of  Natchez.  It  extends  from  the  river  to  the 
eastern  extremity  of  the  city,  about  half  a  mile  in  length,  dividing  the  town 
into  nearly  equal  portions,  north  and  south.  The  street  is  to  Natchez  what 
Chartres  street  is  to  New  Orleans,  though  on  a  much  smaller  scale.  Here 
are  all  the  banks  and  most  of  the  dry  goods  and  fancy  stores.  Here, 
consequently,  is  the  centre  of  business,  and,  to  the  ladies,  that  of 
attraction.  ...  In  passing  up  this  street,  which  is  compactly  built  with 
handsome  brick  blocks,  generally  but  two  stories  in  height,  the  stranger  is 
struck  with  the  extraordinary  number  of  private  carriages,  clustered  before 
the  doors  of  the  most  fashionable  stores,  or  millineries,  rolling  through  the 
streets,  or  crossing  and  recrossing  it  from  those  by  which  it  is  intersected, 
nearly  every  moment,  from  eleven  till  two  on  each  fair  day.  But  few  of  the 
equipages  are  of  the  city:  they  are  from  the  plantations  in  the  neighborhood, 
which  spread  out  from  the  town  over  richly  cultivated  "hill  and  dale,"  —  a 
pleasant  and  fertile  landscape  far  into  the  interior.  Walk  with  me  into  this 
street  about  noon  on  a  pleasant  day  in  December.  .  .  .  Here,  at  the  corner, 
surrounded  by  a  crowd,  is  an  auction  store.  Upon  a  box  by  the  door  stands 
a  tall,  fine-looking  man.  He  is  black;  ebony  cannot  be  blacker.  Of  the 
congregation  of  human  beings  there,  he  is  the  most  unconcerned.  Yet  he  has 
a  deeper  interest  in  the  transaction  of  the  moment  than  all  the  rest  —  for 
a  brief  space  will  determine  whom,  among  he  multitude,  he  is  to  call 
master!  The  auctioneer  descants  at  large  upon  his  merits  and  capabilities  — 

"Acclimated,  gentlemen!  a  first-rate  carriage  driver  —  raised  by  Col. Six 

hundred  dollars  is  bid.  Examine  him,  gentlemen  —  a  strong  and  atheletic 
fellow  —  but  twenty  seven  years  of  age."  He  is  knocked  off  at  seven  hundred 
dollars;  and  with  "There's  your  master,"  by  the  seller,  who  points  to  the 
purchaser,  springs  from  his  elevation  to  follow  his  new  owner;  while  his 
place  is  supplied  by  another  subject.  These  scenes  are  every-day  matters 
here,  and  attract  no  attention  after  beholding  them  a  few  times;  so  powerful 
is  habit,  even  in  subduing  our  strongest  prejudices.165 

The  author  of  the  above  words,  Joseph  Ingraham,  was  struck  by  just  how  casually  the 
white  town  folk  accepted  the  scene  of  buying  and  selling  slaves  even  on  Sundays.  His 
words  depict  a  pace  of  activity  that  was  characteristic  and  long  enduring  in  the  town. 
Indeed,  had  a  traveler  stepped  back  into  Natchez  at  any  time  in  the  period  from  the  1790s 
through  the  1850s,  the  sight  would  have  been  similar  to  what  Ingraham  had  observed. 

A  tax  schedule  for  the  1830s  listed  thirty-two  dealers  in  slaves  in  Natchez.166  A  close 
reading  of  Natchez  newspapers  in  the  1850s  found  approximately  the  same  number.16 
By  consulting  a  local  business  directory  for  1858,  property  records,  and  newspaper 
advertisements,  it  is  possible  to  identify  the  major  slave  trading  locations  in  Natchez.  In 
general,  four  types  of  sales  occurred:  Probate  and  Sheriff  sales  on  the  steps  of  the 
courthouse  located  at  State  and  Pearl  streets;  various  auction  and  store  sales  of  the  sort 


165.  Ingraham,  The  South  West,  II,  pp.  29-30. 

166.  Sydnor,  Slavery,  p.  152. 

167.  Mississippi  Free-Trader,  1845-45,  1854-1857;  Natchez  Weekly  Courier,  1850,  1857-1859. 

79 


described  by  Ingraham,  stretching  along  Main  for  approximately  five  city  blocks;  sales  at 
the  landing  on  boats  and  in  warehouses  wherein  river  transported  slaves  were  kept  prior 
to  being  taken  to  the  main  market  east  of  town;  and  those  at  the  Forks-of-the-Road, 
located  about  a  mile  east  of  town  at  an  intersection  where  several  roads  converged.16 
(See  ILLUSTRATION  I) 

Store  and  auction  sales  principally  handled  local  slaves  in  smaller  lots  in  comparison  to 
transactions  at  the  Forks.  Individual  slaveholders  often  resorted  to  stores  and  auctions 
when  private  attempts  failed  or  when  the  owners  preferred  not  going  public  with  a  sale 
under  their  own  names.  Usually,  a  crier  would  handle  the  bidding  just  as  if  the  slave  were 
any  other  piece  of  property.  Also,  undesirable  slaves  left  unsold  at  the  Forks  were 
frequently  disposed  of  by  auctioneers  to  the  highest  bidders.169 

Estate  and  Sheriff  sales  at  the  courthouse  disposed  of  slaves  thrown  on  the  market  at  the 
direction  of  estate  administrators,  in  foreclosure  of  unpaid  debts,  as  the  result  of  court 
judgments,  and  in  numerous  cases  of  unclaimed  runaways  sold  to  cover  the  expenses 
incurred  in  housing  them  in  the  town  jail.  In  some  of  the  above  cases,  slaves  would  be 
brought  to  the  courthouse  lawn  where  potential  buyers  could  inspect  them  at  will  before 
bidding.  When  the  sale  involved  a  great  many  slaves,  they  might  be  warehoused  at  the 
landing,  kept  on  their  home  plantations,  or  else  housed  in  slave  depots  at  the  Forks.  In 
such  cases,  buyers  could  inspect  the  slaves,  by  going  to  the  various  locations,  before 
bidding  on  them  by  name  at  the  courthouse  steps  on  a  publicly  announced  day  of  sale. 

Although  precise  information  is  unavailable  regarding  slave  sales  at  the  landing,  it  seems 
likely  that  fewer  sales  occurred  Under-the-Hill  once  the  Forks  came  into  prominence.  The 
general  congestion  and  unsanitary  look  of  the  place,  along  with  its  lawless  reputation, 
were  probably  contributing  factors  to  its  decline  as  a  slave  mart.  Still,  slave  boats  moored 
just  offshore  for  the  whole  of  the  antebellum  period,  and  it  is  probable  that  trading 
occurred  at  the  landing  up  to  the  eve  of  the  Civil  War.  Franklin  and  Company,  for 
example,  owned  a  slave  warehouse  (possibly  just  a  storage  facility  for  cotton)  Under-the- 
Hill  for  most  of  the  time  it  traded  in  Natchez.1'0 

The  market  handling  the  majority  of  slave  sales  in  Natchez  was  located,  appropriately  if 
somewhat  incongruously,  amid  the  town's  most  elite  estate  neighborhood:  the  Concord, 
Monmouth,  Melrose,  and  Linden  community  east  of  town.  Exactly  when  the  Forks  was 
first  established  as  a  slave  depot  is  unclear.  Some  evidence  suggests  that  it  was  used  as 
a  market  even  during  the  Spanish  period.  Virginia  slave  trader  Isaac  Franklin  erected  (or 
acquired)  a  major  slave  depot  at  the  Forks  for  his  own  use,  and  to  lease  to  other  traders, 
in  the  mid-1830s.  Although  Franklin  sold  his  market  holdings  to  John  OTerrall  in  the 


168.  For  information  on  the  location  of  the  Forks-of-the-Road  market  see  Jason  Doolittle.  The  Natchez  Slave 
Market.''  unpublished  paper  in  author's  possession. 

169.  The  above  analysis  of  the  Natchez  market  is  based  on  sources  (too  numerous  to  list)  found  mainly  in 
the  Deeds.  Lands,  Wills,  and  Probate  Record  Books  housed  in  the  Adams  County  Office  of  Records  at  Natchez 
Mississippi  for  the  years  1790  to  1860. 

170.  Rice  C.  Ballard  to  McCormick  and  Quigley.  June  12.  1841.  Adams  County  Deed  Book  DD;  Rice  C. 
Ballard  to  Samuel  S.  Boyd.  February-  2.  1847.  Adams  County  Deed  Book  FF,  Office  of  Records,  Natchez, 
Mississippi. 

80 


Slave  Markets 

O  Courthouse 

0  Main  Street  Stores 

0  Under-the-Hill 

©  Forks-in-the-Road 

© 


3 


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CEMETERY 


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COMMERCE 


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UNDER  THE  HIL1 


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Mississippi      River 


CSPK  fiwgophj  Oegt 


Illustration  I:    Natchez  Slave  Markets 


81 


1840s,  the  Forks  remained  the  town's  main  slave  depot  until  Natchez  was  occupied  by 
Union  forces  in  mid-July,  1863.1'1 

The  exact  configuration  of  the  slave  market  at  the  Forks  is  difficult  to  know  for  certain 
Traveler  Joseph  Ingraham  wrote,  in  the  1830s,  of  two  other  "extensive  markets  for  slaves 
opposite  each  other,  on  the  road  to  Washington  three  miles  from  Natchez."  O'Farrell,  in 
the  mid-1850s,  estimated  the  rents  on  his  slave  stalls  at  $1000  a  year.172  Eventually, 
O'Farrell  built  a  gin  at  the  site,  several  stores,  and  associated  plantation  supply  facilities. 
A  map  of  the  town  drawn  by  the  U.S.  Army  in  1864  shows  a  number  of  buildings  along 
St.  Catherine  Street  as  well  as  at  the  Forks  in  several  locations.  Property  maps  in  land 
record  books  at  the  Adams  County  Office  of  Records,  as  well  as  insurance  platings  in  the 
1890s,  offer  suggestive  insights  but  few  firm  conclusions.  (See  ILLUSTRATION  J) 

The  Forks  was  undoubtedly  founded  as  a  slave  market  because  of  the  convenience  of  its 
location.  Far  enough  from  town  as  to  not  be  an  eyesore  (yet  near  enough  to  the  landing 
to  be  easily  reached),  the  site  was  a  well-suited  location  from  the  perspective  of  traders 
and  buyers  alike.  Slaves  traveling  on  the  Natchez  Trace  would  arrive  at  the  Forks  via  the 
Washington  Road  leading  in  from  the  North.  Overland  slave  droves  from  Alabama  arrived 
by  the  road  from  Liberty.  And  those  slaves  coming  by  river  could  be  marched  directly  to 
the  Forks  by  way  of  Jefferson  or  Franklin  streets  and  then  along  St.  Catherine  Street, 
which  met  Washington  and  Liberty  Road  at  the  Forks.  For  most  of  the  Forks'  planter 
customers,  the  market  was  but  a  brief  carriage  ride  from  town  or  from  the  numerous 
estate  plantations  in  the  immediate  vicinity. 

Not  to  be  forgotten,  the  site  was  easy  to  police  and  to  isolate  should  the  need  arise,  not 
unimportant  considerations  in  view  of  the  frequent  outbreaks  of  cholera  and  other 
contagious  diseases.  Slaves  could  be  conveniently  quarantined,  disciplined,  punished,  and 
"acclimatized"  at  the  Forks,  within  easy  reach  of  armed  planters  and,  more  importantly, 
the  town  militia.  That  such  considerations  may  have  played  a  role  in  the  Forks'  location 
seem  likely  in  view  of  its  proximity  to  several  elite  plantation  estates. 

Had  the  planter  notables  who  lived  near  the  Forks  (the  Minors,  Quitmans,  McMurrans, 
Surgets,  Turners,  Moores,  and  Bingamans)  objected  to  having  the  market  within  their 
immediate  domain,  it  would  not  have  been  difficult  to  have  relocated  the  site.  But  there 
is  no  evidence  that  local  slaveholders  were  at  all  concerned  with  its  location.  Rather,  the 
Forks  was  an  attraction  of  sorts  —  a  place  close  at  hand  for  gentleman  dandies,  respected 
ladies,  esteemed  "nabobs,"  whites  of  the  middling  class,  and  the  just  plain  curious  who 
wanted  to  view  the  fresh  crops  of  slaves  brought  in  from  Virginia.  Ingraham  captures  this 


171.  Ballard.  Franklin,  &  Armfield  to  John  O'Ferrall,  December  15,  1845,  Adams  County  Deed  Book  FF:  Rice 
C.  Ballard  to  Amelia  A.  Gillard,  January  1,  1847,  Adams  County  Deed  Book  GG;  Ayers  P.  Merrill  to  Rice  C. 
Ballard,  November  2,  1840,  Adams  County  Deed  Book,  CC;  John  O'Farrell  to  City  of  Natchez,  October  20, 
1859,  Adams  County  Deed  Book  MM;  John  O'Farrell  to  Daniel  Muse.  January  13,  1842.  Adams  County  Deed 
Book  DD;  John  O'Farrell  to  Frederick  Read.  April  10,  1867,  Land  and  Deed  Book  OO;  Patrick  O'Farrell  to  John 
Kierman,  March  21,  1860,  Adam  County  Deed  Book  MM;  Patrick  O'Farrell  to  Robert  Wood,  trustee  for  N. 
Hoggatt.  Jr..  August  12,  1858,  Adams  County  Deed  Book  MM;  Anthony  Smith  to  Rice  C.  Ballard  and  Isaac 
Franklin.  May  19,  1835,  Adams  County  Deed  Book  W,  Office  of  Records.  Natchez,  Mississippi.  (Note:  the  name 
O'Ferrall  is  spelled  variously  as  O'Farrell  and  O'Farrel  in  the  record  books.) 

172.  Ingraham.  The  SouthWest,  II.  pp.  202;  Mississippi  Frec-Trader,  February  11,  1857. 

82 


I 

! 


Oecl904 

.NATCHEZ 


MISS. 


%        OtottmiL       ftn. 


t ^ 

7 


t 


61     It 


Source:  Sanborn  Insurance  Maps,  1904,  Historical  Natchez  Foundation, 
Natchez,  Mississippi 


Illustration  J:    Forks-of-the-Road  cl900 


83 


aspect  of  the  scene  with  his  description  of  how  at  ease  one  visitor  was  to  the  place: 
"Shortly  before  leaving  the  slave  mart  —  a  handsome  carriage  drove  up,  from  which 
alighted  an  elderly  lady,  who,  leaning  on  the  arm  of  a  youth,  entered  the  court.  After 
looking  at  and  questioning  in  a  kind  tone  several  of  the  female  slaves,  she  purchased  two, 
a  young  mother  and  her  child,  and  in  a  few  minutes  afterward,  at  the  solicitation  of  the 
youth,  purchased  the  husband  of  the  girls.  .  ."173 

Although  close  analysis  of  the  Forks'  impact  on  the  black  experience  in  Natchez  awaits 
further  study,  several  points  seem  obvious:  firstly,  the  majority  of  non-Mississippi  slaves 
sold  in  Natchez  were  undoubtedly  traded  at  the  Forks.  The  enslaved  men  and  women 
under  sale  were  segregated  by  gender  regardless  of  family  relations  and  sold  for  the  most 
part  in  separate  transactions.  Because  local  buyers  always  suspected  that  trader-handled 
slaves  were  undesirable  criminals  and  "rascals,"  the  actual  sale  involved  careful 
inspections  for  whip  marks,  physical  ailments,  aging,  and,  in  the  case  of  women,  fecundity. 
Although  traders  were  required  by  law  to  certify  that  the  slaves  were  not  criminals, 
faithless,  or  in  poor  health,  few  Natchez  buyers  trusted  the  certificates,  Virginia 
credentials,  or  the  trader's  word.  They  wanted  to  see  the  slaves  for  themselves.  As  a  result, 
the  sale  was  almost  always  a  terribly  dehumanizing  experience  for  the  enslaved  people. 

A  mile  from  Natchez,  we  came  to  a  cluster  of  rough  wooden  buildings,  in  the 
angle  of  two  roads,  in  front  of  which  several  saddle-horses,  either  tied  or 
held  by  servants,  indicated  a  place  of  popular  resort.  .  .  . 

Entering  through  a  wide  gate  into  a  narrow  court  yard,  partially  enclosed 
by  low  buildings,  a  scene  of  a  novel  character  was  at  once  presented.  A  line 
of  negroes  commencing  at  the  entrence  with  the  tallest,  who  was  not  more 
than  five  feet  eight  or  nine  inches  in  height.  .  .  down  to  a  little  fellow  about 
ten  years  of  age,  extended  in  a  semicircle  around  the  right  side  of  the  yard. 
There  were  in  all  about  forty.  .  .  .  With  their  hats  in  their  hands,  which 
hung  down  by  their  sides,  they  stood  perfectly  still,  and  in  close  order,  while 
some  gentlemen  were  passing  from  one  to  another  examining  for  the 
purpose  of  buying.  With  the  exception  of  displaying  their  teeth  when 
addressed,  and  rolling  their  great  white  eyes  about  the  court  —  they  were 
so  many  statues  of  the  most  glossy  ebony....  As  we  approached  them  [the 
slaves],  one  of  us  as  a  curious  spectator,  the  other  as  a  purchaser;  and  as 
my  friend  passed  along  the  line,  with  a  scrutinizing  eye  —  giving  that 
singular  look,  peculiar  to  the  buyer  of  slaves  as  he  glances  from  head  to  foot 
over  each  individual,  the  passive  subjects  of  his  observations  betrayed  no 
other  signs  of  curiosity  than  that  evinced  by  an  occasional  glance. 


Then  came  a  series  of  the  usual  questions  from  the  intended  purchaser.  "Let 
me  see  your  teeth  —  your  tongue  —  open  your  hands  —  roll  up  your 
sleeves  —  have  you  a  good  appetite?  Are  you  good  tempered?"1,4 


173.  Ingraham,  The  South  West,  II,  pp.  200. 

174.  Ibid.,  pp.  192-198. 

84 


Secondly,  with  regard  to  the  mart's  impact  on  the  black  experience,  sales  at  the  Forks  tore 
apart  the  slave  associations  that  had  come  about  in  the  weeks  and  months  of  passage  to 
Natchez. 

"How  old  are  you,  George?"  he  [the  buyer]  inquired.  "I  don't  recollect,  sir, 
'zactly  —  b'live  I'm  somewhere  'bout  twenty-dree.'"  "Where  were  you  raised?" 

"On  master  R 's  farm  in  Wirginny."  "Then  you  are  a  Virginia  negro." 

"Yes,  master,  me  full  blood  Wirginny."  "Did  you  drive  your  master's 
carriage?"  "Yes,  Master,  I  drove  ole  missus'  carrage,  more  dan  four  year." 
"Have  you  a  wife?"  "Yes,  master,  I  lef  young  wife  in  Richmond,  but  I  got 
new  wife  here  in  de  lot.  I  wishy  you  buy  her,  master,  if  you  gwine  to 
buy  me." 


In  a  few  minutes  [George]  returned  and  took  leave  of  several  of  his 
companions,  who,  having  been  drawn  up  into  line  only  to  be  shown  to 
purchasers,  were  now  once  more  at  liberty,  and  moving  about  the  court,  all 
the  visitors  having  left  except  my  friend  and  myself.  "You  mighty  luck, 
George,"  said  one,  congratulating  him,  "to  get  sol  so  quick."175 

Even  had  the  buyer  purchased  George's  new  wife,  the  slave's  separation  from  the  friends 
he  had  made  on  the  trail  —  from  the  man,  for  example,  who  had  shared  his  chained  collar 
for  two  months  —  must  have  been  a  wrenching  experience.  Locally-raised  (and  then  sold) 
slaves  could  hope  to  see  loved  ones  again,  or  could  at  least  hear  about  them  through  the 
grapevine.  The  typical  Forks  sale,  however,  involved  newly  arrived  slaves  who 
undoubtedly  understood  that  they  would  never  see  their  families  again.  And  while  it  would 
be  too  much  to  suggest  that  such  differences  in  the  sale  experience  of  imported  and  local 
slaves  were  qualitatively  more  or  less  agonizing  for  the  people  being  sold,  they  were 
differences  that  need  to  be  considered. 

As  much  as  Natchez  was  a  frenzied  slave  mart  literally  overrun  by  professional  slave 
dealers,  it  was  equally  a  place  wherein  black  slaves  were  bought,  sold,  and  exchanged  in 
a  wide  array  of  private  transactions.  Natchez  district  planters,  like  businessmen 
everywhere,  expanded  their  operations  by  borrowing  money  in  good  times  and  using  their 
lands  and  possessions  as  collateral  for  loans  during  economic  downturns.  If  crop  prices 
bounced  up,  loans  were  repaid;  if  the  economy  stalled  —  as  it  did,  for  instance,  in  the  late 
1830s,  planters  defaulted,  sold  property  to  cover  debts,  or  borrowed  more  heavily  to  tide 
them  over. 

But  unlike  businessmen  elsewhere,  southern  planters  used  human  beings  as  collateral  for 
their  loans  in  a  tragic  process  that  greatly  altered  the  nature  of  southern  enterprise.  In 
Natchez,  the  heady  character  of  investing  in  lands  and  human  chattel  left  district  slaves 
especially  vulnerable  to  the  gyrations  of  the  business  cycle  as  well  as  the  opportunism, 
greed,  whim,  and  mortality  of  their  masters. 


175.    Ibid. 

85 


In  February,  1859,  forty-six  slaves  on  the  Laurel  Grove  plantation,  including  nine  children, 
were  mortgaged  as  collateral  for  a  loan  of  $200,000,  repayable  in  installments  over  four 
years.  '  Twenty  years  prior  to  the  Laurel  Grove  mortgage,  merchant  and  planter 
William  Ferriday  had  mortgaged  four  plantations  (Hollywood,  Liverpool,  Peachland,  and 
Melody),  plus  24,238  acres  in  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  and  Mississippi,  an  estate  residence 
and  fourteen  "servants"  in  Natchez,  and  243  slaves  as  collateral  for  debts  amounting  to 
$777,  516.  The  lands  and  slaves  were  given  in  trust  to  local  planter  John  F.  Gillespie,  who 
agreed  to  sell  the  properties  at  public  auction  at  the  door  of  the  courthouse  in  Natchez 
should  Ferriday  fail  to  redeem  the  loan  as  scheduled.1'7 

A  few  years  before  the  Ferriday  transaction,  Robert  Moore,  owner  of  the  lands  on  which 
the  fashionable  Melrose  estate  would  be  built  in  the  1840s,  had  signed  over  fourteen  slaves 
to  local  merchant  James  C.  Wilkins  as  collateral  on  a  promissory  note  of  S4000.1' 
Indeed,  the  man  who  would  eventually  build  Melrose,  lawyer  John  McMurran,  held  slaves 
as  collateral  for  loans  in  trust  to  planters  as  a  regular  feature  of  his  legal  practice.1'9 

Prominent  planter,  second  generation  patriarch,  and  avid  horseman  Adam  L.  Bingaman, 
regularly  mortgaged  lands  and  slaves  in  support  of  his  lifestyle  and  enterprise.  In  1821, 
Bingaman  borrowed  $46,671  from  fellow  planter  Stephen  Duncan,  signing  over  his  Poverty 
Hill  plantation  on  St.  Catherine  Creek  (property  bordering  what  would  become  the 
Melrose  estate)  and  ten  of  his  estate  slaves.  Although  Bingaman  eventually  redeemed  the 
estate  with  no  evidence  of  slaves  changing  owners,  he  continued  to  use  his  land  and  slaves 
for  loans  throughout  the  period:  in  1842,  Bingaman  placed  his  plantation,  Fatherland, 
sixty-five  slaves,  a  "library  of  books,"  and  all  his  mules,  cattle,  horses,  and  sheep  in  trust 
to  Stephen  D.  Elliott  for  loans  received  from  planters  Anthony  Hoggatt,  James  Surget,  and 
James  Ferguson.  He  borrowed  another  $44,376  later  that  same  year  by  mortgaging,  once 
again,  his  600-acre  suburban  estate,  Poverty  Hill,  along  with  fifty-six  slaves;  and  in  1847, 
Bingaman  financed  $22,899  in  debts  by  pledging  his  Adams  County  plantation,  Oak  Point, 
173  slaves,  race  horses,  household  furniture,  books,  and  livestock  to  Stephan  Duncan  and 
Gustavus  Calhoun  as  collateral  for  the  loan.180 

More  often  than  not  these  private  deals  were  paper  transactions  only,  with  the  involved 
slaves  never  knowing  about,  or  being  affected  by,  the  legal  language  that  bound  them  to 
one  master  on  another.  Oftentimes,  however,  the  contractual  arrangements,  mortgagees, 


176.  Philip  R.  Nichols  to  Alex  C.  Ferguson  &  Eustace  Surget,  February  14,  1859,  Adams  County  Deed  Book 
MM,  Office  of  Records,  Natchez,  Mississippi. 

177.  William  Ferriday  to  John  F.  Gillespie,  June  12,  1839,  Adams  County  Deed  Book  BB.  Office  of  Records, 
Natchez,  Mississippi 

178.  Robert  Moore  to  James  C.  Wilkins  &  Co.,  March  22.  1826.  Adams  County  Deed  Book  P.  Office  of 
Records,  Natchez,  Mississippi. 

179.  J.A.  Lyle  to  John  McMurran,  March  18,  1830,  Adams  County  Deed  Book  S,  Office  of  Records.  Natchez, 
Mississippi. 

180.  Adam  L.  Bingaman  to  Stephen  Duncan.  January  3.  1821,  Adams  County  Deed  Book  M;  to  Stephen 
Duncan,  November  24,  1847,  Adams  County  Deed  Book  GG;  to  Stephen  D.  Elliott,  March  6.  1840.  Adams 
County  Deed  Book  CC;  to  Stephen  D.  Elliott.  December  1,  1842.  Adams  County  Deed  Book  DD:;  to  James 
Surget.  June  7.  1842.  Adams  County  Deed  Book  DD.  Office  of  Records,  Natchez,  Mississippi. 

86 


instruments  of  default,  and  court  decisions  ripped  apart  slave  families  in  settlement  of 
debts,  and  demonstrated  to  the  slaves  just  how  vulnerable  they  were  as  personal  property 
to  be  used  in  the  financial  interests  of  their  owners.  It  was  in  such  cases  as  these  that 
locally-reared  slaves  ended  up  on  the  auction  block,  the  courthouse  steps,  and  in  the  back 
rooms  of  private  stores  on  Main  Street. 

Numerous  enslaved  people  in  Natchez  were  also  purchased,  transferred,  sold,  and  traded 
in  the  settlement  of  estates  at  the  death  of  the  white  slaveholders  who  owned  them.  In 
1849,  for  example,  Benjamin  Hermon's  145  slaves  were  offered  for  sale  as  stipulated  in  his 
will.  The  bidding  resulted  in  forty-nine  transactions  to  seventeen  local  buyers.  The  largest 
lot  went  to  Allen  Davis,  who  acquired  twenty  slaves  in  seven  separate  negotiations.  Four 
of  the  Davis  transactions  involved  families.  The  smallest  sale  went  to  lawyer  John 
McMurran  who  purchased  the  slave,  Henry  James,  age  22,  for  $1050. 181 

On  October  1,  1857,  a  common  scene  occurred  on  the  plantation  of  the  recently  deceased 
James  P.  Ashford.  The  administrators  of  Ashford's  estate  met  at  the  "residence  of  the  said 
deceased  and  caused  to  be  collected  and  assembled  all  the  Negro  slaves.  .  .  [dividing]  them 
into  7  lots  —  and  in  order  to  equalize  each  lot  at  $13,739,  the  owner  of  lot  #1  and  6.  .  ." 
was  instructed  to  pay  "$317"  to  the  owner  of  lot  #  7,  "so  that  valued  received  will  be 
equal."  Whether  or  not  the  lots  were  apportioned  according  to  family  relations  among  the 
slaves,  is  unclear.  All  that  we  know  is  that  the  lots  contained  18,  16,  17,  18,  18,  24,  and 
18  enslaved  people  respectively.182 

The  will  of  Volney  (?)  Metcalfe,  March  30,  1860,  though  unclear  about  the  family 
connections  of  his  slaves,  was  quite  specific  as  to  how  the  slaves  were  to  be  distributed 
among  his  heirs:  fourteen  slaves  were  to  be  divided  into  two  equal  groups,  with  one  lot 
going  to  Metcalfe's  widow  and  the  other,  to  his  children.  Lot  #1  contained  four  adults  and 
three  children;  lot  #2  was  made  up  of  six  adults  and  one  child.183 

Some  slaveholders  put  language  in  their  wills  aimed  at  safeguarding  the  slave  families. 
William  Blunt  of  Concordia  Parish,  in  one  of  the  most  unusual  wills  filed,  instructed  his 
executors  to  "sell  and  dispose  of  [his}  property  in  the  best  possible  manner.  .  .  for  the 
benefit  of  the.  .  .heirs  and  legaters,  allowing  my  negroes  the  privilege  of  selecting  and 
choosing  [their]  masters."184  David  Holmes  bequeathed  to  a  sister  and  nephew  in 
Virginia  three  adult  slaves  and  several  children  upon  the  condition  that  the  slaves  be 
taken  to  Virginia  "if  it  is  their  wish  to  leave  the  state  of  Mississippi.  .  ."185  Job  Routh's 
will  instructed  its  executors  to  divide  his  slaves  into  "equal  lots  for  distribution  to  heirs 
but  without  parting  any  member  of  any  family  or  family  of  Negroes."  In  addition,  the 
family  cook,  "old  Ducky,"  was  "entitled  to  go  with  any"  of  the  Routh  "children  she  may 


181.  See  Adams  County  Record  of  Estate  Sales,  vol.  I,  Benjamin  Harmon,  October  23,  1849,  Office  of  Records, 
Natchez,  Mississippi. 

182.  Ibid.,  James  P.  Ashford,  October  1,  1857. 

183.  Ibid.,  W.  Meltcalfe,  March  30,  1860. 

184.  Ibid.,  William  Blunt,  January  28,  1833. 

185.  Ibid.,  Davis  Holmes,  July  8,  1833. 

87 


choose."1  Similarly,  Peter  Rucker  left  instructions  that  "ten  of  [his]  negroes.  .  .  be  given 
to  John  Bisland,  so  divided  as  not  to  interfere  with  the  family  connections  of  the 

Negroes."18' 

Such  precautions  as  expressed  in  the  above  wills  were  the  exception  to  the  rule.  In  most 
cases,  the  documents  are  silent,  leaving  to  the  heirs,  administrators,  and  executors 
discretion  over  preserving  the  family  connections  of  the  slaves  inherited  and  sold. 

In  addition  to  the  sale,  transferral,  and  disposal  of  slaves  by  traders,  executors,  storemen, 
sheriffs,  and  in  private  sales,  hundreds  of  slaves  were  purchased  by  Natchez  planters  who 
traveled  to  Virginia  and  New  Orleans  to  buy  slaves  for  themselves.  Others  placed  orders 
with  agents  or  asked  members  of  their  families  to  secure  "likely"  slaves  for  shipment  to 
Natchez.  In  the  latter  cases,  the  purchased  slaves  could  be  consigned  to  a  ship  or  with  a 
trader  for  passage  west. 

The  case  of  John  Knight,  Natchez  merchant,  illustrates  a  fairly  common  process.  Knight 
decided  in  1844  to  purchase  a  plantation  in  Louisiana,  about  twenty-five  miles  from 
Natchez,  but  he  did  not  want  to  buy  the  slaves  on  the  place  because  they  were  "a  poor  lot." 
Instead,  he  purchased  "some  ten  or  a  dozen  prime  hands  from  the  traders  here,"  which  he 
"put  in  the  place  at  once,  to  get  used  to  it  and  to  gain  some  knowledge  of  the  cotton 
business."  He  planned  to  work  the  plantation  by  hiring  the  slaves  on  the  place  for  the 
season,  supplemented  by  locally  acquired  slaves,  and  by  adding,  in  the  fall  of  the  year," 
some  fifty  or  more"  slaves  purchased"  on  the  Eastern  shore  of  Maryland. "1R8 

Accordingly,  Knight  wrote  a  series  of  letters  to  his  father-in-law  in  Maryland  pertaining 
to  the  purchase  and  shipment  of  the  required  work  force.  Knight  wanted  to  buy  tidewater 
Maryland  slaves  because  of  their  reputation  for  being  "more  valuable  for  the  swamps  of 
Louisiana,  being  more  easily  acclimated,  and  with  less  sickness  and  danger,  than  those 
from  the  more  healthy  origins  of  Maryland  or  Virginia."  Just  what  type  of  slaves  would 
be  best  was  a  question  that  greatly  bothered  Knight.  Some  "old  planters"  of  the  region  had 
advised  him  to  "buy  more  in  families.  ..."  But  Knight  thought  this  unsound  advice  and 
urged  his  father-in-law: 

to  select  only  choice,  first  rate  young  hands  from  14  to  25  years  of  age, 
(buying  no  children  or  aged  negroes)  half  men  and  half  women.  This  I 
presume  is  the  best  course,  unless  I  could  get  such  families  as  would  have 

very  few  old  persons  in  them  and  none  inferior,  and  at  prices.  I 

advise  you  of  all  of  this  so  that  if  you  should  hear  of  any  gentlemen  wishing 
to  sell  a  large  number  of  first  rate  family  slaves,  you  could  at  once  get  the 
lowest  price.  .  .  .  You  know  the  qualities  and  requisites  to  make  first  rate 
plantation  hands.  They  should  be  young,  say  from  16  to  25  years  old,  stout 

and ,  large  deep  chest,  wide  shoulders  &  hips.  .  .  .  Before  I  come  on,  a 

valuable  lot  may  be  offered  you,  which  would  have  to  be  sold  before  I  can 


186.  Ibid.,  Job  Routh,  December  27,  1834. 

187.  Ibid.,  Peter  Rucker,  November  17,  1844. 

188.  John  Knight  to  William  M.  Beall.  February  7,  1844;  August  12.  1844.  John  Knight  Papers.  DU. 

88 


see  them.  If  so,  it  might  be  best  to  secure  them,  and  perhaps  could  be  safely 
done.  /  wish  first  rate  hands,  young  and  stout.  I  should  like  to  get  a  good 
carpenter  and  blacksmith  and  midwife  among  them.  But  they  can  be  found 
separately  perhaps.189 

Knight  reiterated,  ten  days  later,  his  concern  that  all  purchased  slaves  should  be  of  the 
proper  age  and  physical  character.  Families  were  to  be  taken  only  if  a  bargain  price  could 
be  found: 

...  if  a  large  lot  of  number  one  family  negroes  could  be  had  cheaper,  it 
would  do  to  buy  them  as  well  probably.  .  .  .  the  jet  black  negroes  stand  this 
climate  the  best,  and  no  matter  how  ugly  faces,  if  they  have  large  deep 
chests  &  wide  hips,  short  limbs.  .  .  .  190 

Knight  obtained  his  land  and  Maryland  slaves  according  to  plan.  Forty-seven  hands  (plus 
two  infants)  were  purchased  for  $19,027  at  bargain  prices  that  averaged  $405  per  slave. 
According  to  Knight,  Virginia  and  Maryland  slaves  were  selling  at  that  time  for  $500  to 
$700  cash  by  Natchez  traders.  The  range  Knight  paid  for  his  slaves  spread  from  a  high  of 
$500  to  a  low  of  $250.  Nine  slaves  were  older  than  25,  being  26,  40,  36,  30,  50,  28,  26,  26, 
and  28  years-of-age.  None,  but  four  children,  were  younger  than  fourteen  years-of-age,  and 
the  entire  group  was  almost  equally  divided  by  gender:  twenty-six  males  and  twenty-one 
females.  Among  the  entire  party  of  slaves,  only  two  families  were  included:  Charity  and 
her  two  children,  ages  4  and  1,  and  John  (fifty-years-old),  with  his  thirty-seven-year-old 
wife,  Louisa,  and  their  two  little  daughters.191 

Knight's  father-in-law  employed  two  agents,  probably  local  traders  whom  he  trusted,  to 
purchase  the  slaves  from  private  sellers  throughout  the  tidewater  region,  paying  them 
between  $17  and  $40  per  slave  in  commissions  and  expenses.  None  of  the  slaves,  except 
for  members  of  the  two  families   mentioned   above,   were   purchased   from   the  same 

192 

owner. 

Knight's  slaves  were  shipped  via  the  coastal  route  to  New  Orleans  from  Baltimore  in  the 
Brig  Victorine  at  a  freight  of  $558.  Once  at  New  Orleans,  the  slaves  were  transferred  to 
a  boat  commissioned  by  Knight  for  passage  to  Natchez,  arriving  about  June  27,  1844. 
Knight  probably  housed  his  slaves  in  pens  at  the  Forks  or  in  a  warehouse  at  the  landing 
prior  to  their  final  voyage  to  his  Louisiana  plantation.193 

The  next  year  brought  frustration  to  Knight  and  hardships  to  the  enslaved  people  he  had 
purchased.  Incompetent  overseers,  according  to  Knight,  had  put  the  unacclimated  slaves 


189.  Ibid.,  Knight  to  Beall,  January  27,  1844. 

190.  Ibid.,  February  7,  1844. 

191.  Ibid.,  Beall  to  Knight,  July  9,  1844. 

192.  Ibid. 

193.  Ibid.,  Knight  to  Beall,  June  27,  1844. 

89 


to  work  too  early  in  the  fields,  resulting  in  the  death  of  at  least  four.  Some  slaves  ran 
away.  Sickness  kept  the  plantation  "hospital"  filled  with  slaves  unable  to  work.  The 
plantation  was  in  desperate  need  of  a  mid-wife  and  nurse,  but  none  could  be  found  at  any 
price.  Heavy  rains  and  flood  waters  made  it  difficult  for  Knight  to  travel  between  Natchez 
and  his  plantation.  And  although  his  crop  was  "very  good  and  promising,"  Knight  confided 
to  his  father-in-law  that  he  was  "heartily  sick  and  tired  and  disgusted  with  planting, 
especially  so  far  as  negroes  are  concerned,  and  I  would  gladly  sell  out  tomorrow,  say  today, 
if  I  could  satisfactorily."194 

The  question  of  why  Knight  wanted  to  purchase  slaves  directly  in  Maryland,  rather  than 
Maryland  slaves  brought  to  Natchez  or  New  Orleans  by  professional  traders,  is  easily 
answered.  Trader  procured  slaves,  most  planters  would  have  agreed,  could  not  be  trusted 
because  the  traders  could  not  be  trusted: 

.  .  .hundreds  of  the  negroes  sold  in  this  country  by  traders  doubtless  were 
sold  to  them  on  account  of  their  having  committed  crimes.  .  .  .  The  fact  is, 
as  to  the  character  and  disposition  of  all  slaves  sold  by  traders  here  we 
know  nothing  whatever,  traders  themselves  being  generally  such  liers. 
Buyers  therefore  can  only  judge  by  the  looks  of  the  negroes,  endeavoring  to 
avoid  getting  old  rascals,  believing  they  can  amend  young  ones.195 

The  low  reputation  of  professional  slave  traders  partly  explains  the  actions  of  Louisiana 
and  Mississippi  in  passing  laws  (at  various  times)  aimed  at  regulating  and  even  abolishing 
(briefly)  the  domestic  trade.  Looking  first  at  Louisiana,  the  state  banned,  in  1810,  the 
importation  of  slaves  convicted  of  crimes  and,  in  1826,  the  introduction  of  slaves  as 
merchandise.  Citizens  of  Louisiana  and  migrating  planters  could  import  slaves,  but  could 
not  hire,  exchange,  or  sell  them  for  at  least  two  years  after  bringing  them  to  the  state.  But 
this  law  was  barely  written  when  it  was  repealed  in  1828,  to  be  followed  the  next  year  by 
legislation  requiring  all  importers,  traders  and  planters  alike,  to  certify,  with  signatures 
of  respected  freeholders,  the  good  character  of  all  imported  slaves.  For  three  years, 
moreover,  the  state  banned,  until  it  was  repealed  in  1831,  the  importation  of  children 
under  ten-years-old  separate  from  their  mothers.  Then,  in  1831,  largely  in  reaction  to  Nat 
Turner's  rebellion  in  Virginia,  Louisiana  once  again  banned  the  importation  of  slaves  for 
sale.  The  law  was  short-lived,  however,  being  repealed  in  1834.  No  other  attempts  at 
regulating  or  banning  the  trade  occurred  thereafter  in  the  state.196 

In  Mississippi,  laws  required  certification  of  the  good  character  of  adult  slaves  imported 
into  the  state  (1808),  excluded  the  importation  of  slaves  convicted  of  crimes  in  other  states 
(1817),  and  prohibited  —  by  the  new  state  constitution  of  1832  —  the  "introduction  of 
slaves"  into  the  state  "as  merchandise.  ..."  The  provision  banning  importations  of  slaves 
for  sale  was  not  implemented  by  legislation  until  1837,  when  the  state  government  banned 
all  further  importations.  Traders  violating  the  law  were  subject  to  fines  of  $500  for  each 


194.  Ibid..  May  25,  1845. 

195.  Ibid..  March  18.  1844. 


196.     Collins,  The  Doryiestic  Slave  Trade,  pp.  126-131;  Sydnor.  Slavery,  pp.  131-179;  Tadman.  Speculators  and 
Slaves,  pp.  83-89. 

90 


slave  and  six  months  imprisonment.  The  law  abolishing  the  trade  remained  on  the  books 
until  1846,  when  it  was  repealed.197 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  attempts  to  regulate  (or  ban)  the  domestic  slave  trade 
reflected  the  conviction  that  rebellious,  troublesome,  infirm,  sick,  and  incompetent  slaves 
were  the  common  staple  of  the  trader's  business.  But  it  is  equally  clear  that  Natchez 
traders,  in  open  defiance  of  the  law,  brought  slaves  into  the  district  throughout  the  period 
under  review.  Although  traders  transferred  business  across  the  river  to  Vidalia  when 
uncertain  about  enforcement  of  the  prohibitions,  such  actions  were  always  momentary 
inconveniences.  Indeed,  it  was  in  1835,  that  slave  trader  Isaac  Franklin  purchased  his 
Forks-of-the  Road  slave  depot. 

By  1837,  however,  with  the  onset  of  financial  panic  and  economic  depression,  local  support 
for  the  trade's  curtailment  reemerged.  Some  planters  wanted  to  sell  their  own  slaves  and 
saw  legislation  enforcing  the  constitutional  ban  on  the  importation  of  slaves  for  sale  as  a 
means  of  reducing  competition  in  a  slow  market.  Others  contested  their  debts  to  traders 
on  grounds  that  all  trader  involved  transactions  violated  the  constitutional  ban  against 
importing  slaves  into  the  state  as  merchandise.198 

The  court  challenge  by  Natchez  district  planter  Henry  Turner  of  his  debts  to  slave  trader 
Rice  Ballard  is  illustrative  of  the  way  in  which  Natchez  slaves  could  be  shifted  around 
between  debtors  and  creditors.  At  issue  were  forty-two  slaves  purchased,  in  1835,  by 
Turner  (brother-in-law  to  prominent  Natchez  resident  John  Quitman)  from  the  slave 
trading  firm  of  Franklin,  Armfield  and  Ballard  for  $63,000  at  10  percent  interest  per  year. 
Natchez  lawyer  John  McMurran  (brother-in-law  to  both  Quitman  and  Turner)  handled  the 
case. 

Among  the  issues  contested  was  the  character  of  the  slaves  purchased.  Turner  argued  that 
seven  of  the  slaves  were  so  sickly  that  they  had  died  within  a  year  of  their  purchase. 
Others  were  "slow,"  "good  for  nothing,"  "idiots,"  "subject  to  fits,"  "worthless,"  and 
"runways."  A  witness  to  the  purchase  recalled  that  Turner  had  not  trusted  the  certificates 
of  character  provided  by  Ballard,  causing  the  trader  to  personally  affirm  the  fitness  of  his 
slaves.  When  Turner,  moreover,  had  tried  to  return  several  slaves  as  unfit,  Ballard, 
according  to  the  witness,  refused  to  take  them  back. 

Such  questions  of  judgment  about  the  character  of  slaves  bought  and  sold  were  a  weak 
basis  for  contesting  debts  in  the  federal  courts.  That  is  why  McMurran  included  in 
Turner's  defense  the  contention  that  the  original  sale  had  violated  the  constitutional  ban 
on  selling  slaves  in  Mississippi.  Ultimately,  however,  McMurran  recognized  that  he  had 
little  hope  of  winning  and  agreed  to  settle  out  of  court.199 


197.  Ibid. 

198.  Ibid.,  Sydnor,  Slavery,  pp.  164-171. 


199.  Assorted  correspondence  between  Turner,  Quitman,  Ballard,,  and  McMurran  in  the  John  A.  Quitman 
Papers,  SHC;  see  also  Robert  E.  May,  John  A.  Quitman:  Old  South  Crusader  (Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1985),  pp. 
111-112. 

91 


The  essential  Natchez  experience  —  possibly  even  more  than  the  business  of  cotton  —  was 
the  business  of  buying  and  selling  slaves.  Thousands  of  African-Americans  were  bought, 
sold,  returned  as  "unfit"  or  diseased,  sold  again,  swapped,  mortgaged,  inherited,  traded, 
and  handled  as  mere  property  on  the  auction  blocks  and  in  the  slave-pens  and  warehouses 
of  Natchez.  The  principal  market  sites  stretched  from  Under-the-Hill,  along  Main  Street, 
to  the  Forks  just  east  of  town.  Courthouse  steps  and  public  parks,  across  the  way  from 
churches  and  schools,  hosted  auctions  whereupon  black  families  were  torn  asunder  in 
transactions  that  were  the  very  underpinning  of  the  district's  life  and  economy.  From  the 
perspective  of  those  African-Americans  caught  up  in  the  trade,  Natchez  was  little  more 
than  an  incredibly  horrible  slave  market. 


92 


COPING  WITH  SLAVERY 


All  black  people  in  and  around  antebellum  Natchez  faced  a  central  and  essential  dilemma 
in  life:  how  to  tolerate  and  cope  with  slavery  while  not  fully  submitting  to  it.  How  the 
enslaved  and  free  blacks  of  Natchez  managed  to  cope  is  difficult  to  know  mainly  because 
they  were  forced  to  struggle  in  silence,  undercover,  quietly,  and  in  ways  invisible  to  the 
whites  all  around  them.  What  we  can  say  up  front,  however,  is  that  Natchez  blacks 
endured  140  years  of  slavery  by  grasping  at  every  shred  of  freedom  within  their  reach. 

The  first  groups  of  slaves  brought  into  the  Natchez  district  by  French,  Spanish,  and 
British  settlers  were  required  to  learn  a  second,  Creole  language  as  well  as  a  new  culture 
radically  different  from  their  African  past  and  the  dominant  culture  of  their  masters. 
Clearly,  the  "Princes"  and  "Congo  Toms"  who  filled  the  plantation  lists  in  the  French, 
Spanish,  and  early  American  era,  having  been  ripped  out  of  firmly  rooted  African  settings, 
were  thrust  into  an  alien  world  not  of  their  making.  They  not  only  had  to  learn  the  work 
they  were  required  to  do  as  slaves  but  also  how  to  survive  emotionally  as  human  beings 
divorced  from  their  historical  past.  They  were,  in  the  words  of  sociologist  Orlando 
Patterson,  a  dead  people,  like  zombies  (if  we  may  be  so  crude),  in  the  sense  that  their 
historic  views  and  traditional  values  had  been  rendered  non-applicable  to  the  society  in 
which  they  lived  and  worked. 

This  is  not  to  say  that  the  enslaved  African's  past  was  completely  obliterated.  Historians 
well  understand  that  much  of  what  was  African  held  true  and  survived  the  transportation 
into  slavery;  that  a  complex  and  rich  African  past  largely  enabled  the  officially  dead  to 
carve  out  a  life  for  themselves  in  the  shadows  and  interstices  of  the  dominant  culture  into 
which  they  were  thrust.  The  point  to  understand,  however,  is  that  African-born  slaves  in 
the  Natchez  district  were  the  pioneer  creators  of  a  new  African-American  culture  that 
would  be  handed-on  relatively  whole  to  their  American-born,  slave  descendants. 

Blacks  coming  to  Natchez  in  the  1840s  and  1850s,  on  the  other  hand,  were  mainly  native- 
born  transplants  from  the  upper-South  who  partook  of  an  African-American  culture  in 
which  a  new  language,  Enslaved-English,  (for  want  of  a  better  term)  served  as  their 
primary  means  of  communication  and  self-awareness.  By  the  1840s,  incoming  blacks  to 
the  district  could  communicate  with  all  other  blacks  in  a  common  style  that  drew  upon  a 
rich  but  distant  African  heritage,  as  well  as  their  slave  experiences,  to  form  a  shared 
culture  of  resistance,  accommodation,  and  living.  Slave  newcomers  to  Natchez  from 
Virginia  well  understood  the  limits  of  their  world  because  they  had  been  taught  "survival" 
lessons  from  mothers  and  fathers  who  in  turn  had  learned  them  from  their  own  American- 


200.  See  especially  Orlando  Patterson,  Slavery  and  Social  Death:  A  Comparative  Study  (Cambridge.  Mass., 
1982).  pp.  1-104. 

201.  Among  the  literature  on  slave  consciousness  and  the  process  by  which  slaves  created  an  African- 
American  culture  see  John  W.  Blassingame,  The  Slave  Community:  Plantation  Life  in  the  Antebellum  South 
(New  York,  N.Y.,  1979).  pp.  1-148;  Eugene  D.  Genovese,  Roll,  Jordan,  Roll:  The  World  the  Slaves  Made  (New 
York,  N.Y.,  1974);  Lawrence  W.  Levine,  Black  Culture  and  Black  Consciousness:  Afro-American  Folk  Thought 
from  Slavery  to  Freedom  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1977);  Mechal  Sobel,  The  World  They  Made  Together:  Black  and 
White  Values  in  Eighteenth-Century  Virginia  (Princeton,  N.J.,  1987),  pp.  1-65;  Mechal  Sobel,  Trabelin'  On: 
The  Slave  Journey  to  An  Afro-Baptist  Faith  (Princeton,  N.J.,  1988). 

93 


born  parents  in  a  shared  experience  that  spanned  several  generations  of  slavery.  They 
commonly  understood  the  futility  of  armed  insurgency,  the  ways  of  masters  and  overseers, 
exactly  what  it  meant  to  be  a  fieldhand  in  contrast  to  an  estate  or  household  slave,  and 
when  to  stand  their  ground  and  when  to  give  in.  The  lessons  of  slavery  were  tried  and  true 
experiences  for  Natchez  blacks  in  the  1840s  in  comparison  to  the  more  uncertain,  pioneer 
world  that  had  faced  their  African  ancestors  in  the  1720s,  1770s,  and  the  1790s. 

This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  the  experience  of  native-born  slaves  was  one  frozen  in 
time.  Nothing  could  be  more  mistaken.  Rather,  slavery  in  the  Natchez  district  was  always 
a  system  in  flux,  growing  more  restrictive,  for  example,  as  the  antebellum  period 
advanced.  Fewer  manumissions  occurred,  slave  patrols  became  more  regularized  and  more 
frequent,  and  efforts  at  colonizing  Natchez  blacks  in  Africa  withered  away  and 
disappeared  by  1850.  Moreover,  emotionally  charged  outbursts  of  anti-black  paranoia 
(called  the  "Inquisition"  by  Natchez  barber  William  Johnson)  broke  out  again  and  again 
among  disgruntled  whites  in  the  1830s,  1840s,  and  1850s,  usually  manifested  by  efforts 
to  expel  free  blacks  from  the  region. 

Exactly  why  slavery  in  the  district  became  more  constrained  over  time  is  open  to 
conjecture.  Common  sense  would  suggest  that  it  probably  had  something  to  do  with  the 
increased  pace  of  anti-slavery  agitation  in  the  nation  at  large.  The  more  blacks  escaped, 
the  more  rigid  the  system  became.  The  more  talk  there  was  about  the  immorality  of 
slavery,  the  more  Natchez  slaveholders  worried  about  the  presence  of  non-enslaved  blacks 
who  were  free  to  read,  write,  and  conspire. 

Equally  telling,  perhaps,  is  the  fact  that  no  viable  class  of  mulattoes,  slave  or  free,  stood 
in  good  position  for  challenging  the  restrictive  changes  affecting  all  blacks  in  the  district 
in  the  several  decades  before  the  Civil  War.  For  all  practical  purposes,  it  made  no  real 
difference  whether  the  enslaved  or  free  African-American  was  light  or  dark  skinned  in 
terms  of  how  that  person  was  treated  or  was  expected  to  behave  by  the  white  community. 
Perhaps  the  reason  it  made  little  difference  was  partly  because  black  women  were  not 
needed  as  wives  and  companions  for  white  planters.  Perhaps  there  were  enough  white 
women  in  the  district  as  spouses  —  at  least  in  the  early  American  period  —  that 
relatively  few  white  males  were  compelled  to  embrace  black  females  as  wives  and  lovers. 

Mulatto  infants,  to  put  it  bluntly  but  tentatively  pending  further  research,  were  as  likely 
to  have  been  the  product  of  rape  and  force  as  the  issue  of  consensual  relations  among 
whites  and  blacks.  As  a  result,  few  white  women  could  see  any  good  reason  for  the  mulatto 
offspring  all  around  them  except  as  could  be  explained  by  reference  to  white,  male  lust  and 
black  promiscuity.  Most  mulatto  children,  even  those  children  conceived  in  mutual  love, 
were  most  likely  viewed  with  shame  by  their  white  fathers  and,  in  all  probability,  with 
derision  by  the  white  women  of  Natchez. 

If  there  had  been  fewer  white  women  in  Natchez  there  might  have  emerged  a  viable  and 
influential  class  of  mulattoes  as  the  logical  outcome  of  intimacy  and  sexual  relations 


94 


among  masters  and  slaves.  Since  no  such  class  emerged,  the  so-called  "Inquisition"  went 
largely  unchallenged  by  those  blacks  who  bore  the  brunt  of  the  attacks.202 

Although  Natchez  district  blacks  confronted  a  changing  world  of  slavery  that  required 
different  survival  tactics  at  different  times,  one  fact  of  black  life  generally  prevailed:  no 
slaves  in  Natchez  enjoyed  any  procedural  rights  to  justice  or  to  the  redress  of  abuses 
against  them.  Although  blacks  were  indeed  protected  by  law  as  persons  —  i.e.,  whites 
could  be  tried  and  punished  for  murdering  slaves  or  needlessly  abusing  them,  no  black 
could  initiate  the  appropriate  process  of  justice  on  their  own.  The  security  of  Natchez 
blacks  as  persons  was  dependent  on  white  intervention  in  their  behalf.20" 

In  view  of  their  legal  non-existence,  what  then  was  it  like  to  have  been  a  black  person  in 
antebellum  Natchez?  How  did  they  cope?  One  of  the  best  sources  available  for  insight  here 
is  the  personal  journal  of  a  free  black  man  living  in  Natchez  in  the  1830s  and  1840s.  The 
black  (slave-owning)  barber,  William  Johnson,  left  a  diary  wherein  he  recorded  the 
minutiae  of  his  life  for  some  fifteen  years.  Included  among  his  notes  are  numerous, 
unguarded  references  to  his  black  associates,  employees,  and  slaves.  What  follows  is  an 
extraction  —  for  a  ten  year  period  —  of  nearly  all  those  entries  that  relate  to  the  pace  and 
character  of  black  life  in  Natchez.  Only  those  references  to  blacks  are  noted,  gleaned  from 
the  thousands  of  words  the  barber  wrote.  The  result  is  a  virtual  —  although  lengthy  — 
panorama:  a  vivid  and  fast-moving  picture  of  the  world  wherein  blacks  were  forced  to 
live.204 


202.  The  above  analysis  is  largely  tentative  in  presentation  because  it  rests  upon  the  attempt  to  explain  why 
no  mulatto  class  emerged  in  Natchez  comparable  to  those  in  New  Orleans  and  other  slave  societies  in  the  New 
World.  What  is  certain  is  that  it  made  no  real  difference  whether  one  was  a  mulatto  or  a  totally  black  slave 
or  free  person  in  Natchez.  For  conceptual  perspective  on  this  question  see  John  W.  Blassingame,  Black  New 
Orleans:  1860-1880  (Chicago,  111.,  1973),  pp.  1-21;  John  B.  Boles,  Black  Southerners,  1619-1869  (Lexington, 
Ky.,  1984),  pp.  140-182;  Willie  Lee  Rose,  Slavery  and  Freedom  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1982),  pp.  150-163. 

203.  The  best  summation  of  black  legal  rights  in  Mississippi  is  in  Charles  S.  Sydnor,  Slavery  in  Mississippi 
(Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1933-1966).  pp.  82-85.  Sydnor  notes  that  Mississippi  slaves  were  subject  to  three  kinds 
of  judicial  proceedings  in  cases  where  they  were  alleged  to  have  committed  crimes.  In  crimes  of  petit  or  grand 
larceny,  slaves  would  receive  a  maximum  of  thirty-nine  lashes  "well  laid  on."  Capital  felonies  were  punishable 
by  death.  Less  than  capital  felonies  were  punished  by  brandings  and  other  corporal  punishments  that  could 
include  whippings  or  labor  on  chain  gangs.  For  scholarship  on  the  legal  position  of  blacks  in  the  antebellum 
era  see  Donald  G.  Nieman,  Promises  to  Keep:  African-Americans  and  the  Constitutional  Order,  1776  to  the 
Present  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1991),  pp.  1-49. 

204.  William  Ransom  Hogan  and  Edwin  Adams  Davis,  (ed.),  William  Johnson's  Natchez:  The  Ante-Bellum 
Diary  Of  A  Free  Negro  2  Vols.  (Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1951).  The  above  extractions  have  been  included  partly  to 
give  the  reader  a  sense  of  the  pace  of  life  for  Johnson's  slaves  as  well  as  to  indicate  an  example  of  how  the 
diary  can  be  used  as  a  source  of  insight  unrelated  to  Johnson  himself. 

95 


1835 


October  23. 


November  1. 


William  &  John  Stayed  Out  untill  after  ten  Oclock.  I 
Beat  them  Both  with  my  stick  when  they  Came  home. 
They  were  both  down  at  Mr.  Parkers  Kitchen. 

Finds  William  at  Mr.  Parkers  Kitchen  with  his  Girls. 
Struck  him  with  the  whip  1st  and  then  with  the  stick. 
He  ran  home  and  I  followed  him  there  and  whiped  him 
well  for  it  having  often  told  him  about  going  Down  there 


November  15. 


November  26. 


December  16. 


I  met  Col  Throckmorton  with  20  Darkeys.  I  Expect  he 
bought  them  —  yes  he  bot  them  of  Collier. 

I  herd  by  a  Gentleman  that  .  .  .  [the]  man  Hunter  that 
was  put  in  rWoodvill  jail]  for  stealing  a  Negro  from  Dr. 
Carmicle  was  taken  out  of  Jail  by  5  or  6  persons  and 
was  shot  3  times  and  then  hung  on  a  tree 

Mr.  Lilliard  has  his  Boys  sold  at  Auction.  They  were  sold 
very  high  —  Old  Mr.  Brustee  offers  a  Little  Yellow  Boy 
at  Auction.  Tryed  to  get  $650.00  for  him  But  he  could 
not.  He  was  not  sold. 


December  24. 


I  wrote  a  pass  for  John  &  William  to  the  Theatre  and  for 
Lewis  and  Steven  for  the  Circus. 


December  25. 


I  worked  until  11  Oclock  and  made  $7,371/2,  then  gave 
the  Boys  all  they  could  make  until  night.  John  & 
William  made  $8.50. 


December  25. 


One  of  Mr.  Bells  Boys  was  shot  with  a  musket  Ball 
threw  the  Left  shoulder  by  Floyd  the  Black  smith.  He 
was  ordered  to  stop  and  he  would  not  stop  so  Floyd  and 
Mr.  Carpenter  both  shot  at  him.  Carpenter  had  his  gun 
Loadened  with  Buck  shot. 


December  27. 


William  &  John  &  Bill  Nix  staid  out  until  1/2  10  O'clock 
at  night.  When  the[y]  came  they  knocked  so  Loud  at  the 
Door  and  made  so  much  noise  that  I  came  out  with  my 
stick  and  pounded  both  of  the  Williams  and  J.  John  ran 
Out  of  the  Yard  and  was  caught  by  the  Padroll,  Mr. 
McConnell  and  Reynolds.  I  made  Mr.  McConnell  give 
him  12  or  15  Lashes  with  his  Jacket  off —  . 


96 


1836 


January  8. 


Old  Sterns  Cetches  Dick  stealing  money  from  the 
drawler]  —  Dick  ranaway  carrying  with  him  the  Days 
work  $5  and  what  he  himself  had,  making  in  all  about 
$10.  —  Steven  went  Out  —  The  patroll  caught  him  and 
whiped  him  and  I  whiped  him  myself  in  the  morning 
afterward. 


January  11. 


Mrs  Dunns  Servants  taken  up  by  the  Padroll.  A  white 
man  take  up  that  Left  there  the  same  Evening  —  Mr 
Stantons  Cotten  Yard  was  set  on  fire  or  there  was  an 
attempt  to  set  it  on  fire,  in  the  Noon  Day  time  by  some 
Dareing  Rasfclal  or  other  —  Mr  Wells  Stable  was  found 
with  fire  in  some  part  of  it  in  the  daytime  also  —  I  went 
out  about  9  Oclock  at  night  and  Garded  my  yard  untill 
12  Oclock  —  The  padroll  took  up  12  or  15  persons  about 
the  streets. 


Januarv  14. 


The  Gard  took  Nancy  Latimore  and  Cut  her  all  over  her 
Back,  whiped  her  very  much.  She  went  through  the 
Market  the  next  morning  with  her  clothes  hanging  all 
off  at  Each  Shoulder. Her  back  was  very  much  whipped. 
It  was  though  Dr.  Lattimore  make  her  walk  in  the 
Streets  that  way. 


January  15. 


The  Black  Boy  Jeff  Belonging  to  the  Miss  Joys  that 
Killed  Collins  the  Overseer  for  Mrs  Minors  Plantation 
was  Hung. 


January  27. 


Last  night  Walker  Came  Home  Drunk  and  sliped  off 
again.  I  then  went  under  the  Hill  to  Look  for  him  —  I 
intended  to  mall  him  well  but  I  could  not  find  him  and 
to  night  he  Came  home  the  same  way  —  I  did  not  strike 
him  but  came  very  near  it. 


January  29. 


February  11. 


March  3. 


Last    night    Hester    told    Mrs    B     and    myself    that 

widow  was  in  the  Family  way  by  her  Overseer, 

,  who  was  married  one  of  the  Miss She 

stated  that  Mrs was  a  going  to  Kentucky  before 

Long  To  have  the  Child  I  presume.  She  said  that  one  of 

Mrs girls  told   her   [mother!   how  Bad   it  Looked 

because  her  Overseer  was  a  married  man  —  She 
answerd  —  What  if  he  was!  She  did  not  care  for  he  was 
only  married  to  a  Negro. 

A  Mr  Smith  from  Lake  Washington  was  robbed  of  $25.00 
at  Mr.  Bells  by  one  of  his  servants  —  they  whiped  2  of 
them  —  they  got  $150  of  the  money. 

Col  Bingaman  Sold  His  Boy  Milton  to  Col  Os  Clabourne 
for  Fifteen  Hundred  and  Fifty  Dollars.  He  gave  his  note 


97 


March  12. 


April  22. 


May  19. 


payable  in  60  Days  for  the  $1500  and  he  gave  me  the 
$50  for  Learning  the  Boy  to  shave. 

Mc  and  myself  went  to  see  the  Benefit  of  Mr.  Rice.  He 
had  a  very  good  House.  I  made  up  my  mind  not  to  go  up 
there  any  more  untill  there  was  some  Regulations  made 
up  stairs. 

The  Fencibles  [a  local  militia  group]  Came  by  quantites 
to  get  shave  and  Bathed.  I  made  an  agreement  with  Mr. 
Thatcher  to  give  him  fourteen  Baths  for  his  Bathing  tub. 
Fifteen  or  sixteen  Volunteers  from  Vicksburgh  Bathed 
here  to  day. 

The  Volunteers  from  Madison  County  Left  here  for 
Texas.  To  Day  it  was  that  I  Found  Old  Pagg.  in 
possession  of  a  Black  man  belonging  [to]Mr.  Barber.  The 
Boys  name  was  Patrick,  I  Brought  him  Out  of  his  yard 
with  the  Saddle,  Bridle,  Martingale  and  all  on  the 
Horse.  I  got  on  him  and  rode  home  on  him.  After  having 
showed  the  Horse  to  his  master  he  promised  me  that  he 
would  pay  any  Damage  that  I  seen  proper  to  Charge  him 
for  the  Horse. 


Mav  20. 


June  1. 


Mr.  Barber  sells  the  Black  man  Patrick  that  stoled  my 
Horse,  he  Sold  him  on  that  account  alone. 

I  Bot  Moses  from  a  man  by  the  name  of  William  Good, 
at  Least  I  Bot  him  at  auction  under  the  Hammer  for 
four  Hundred  Dollars  cash. 


June  8. 

July  5. 

August  8. 


Steven,  Belonging  to  Mr  Nickols  came  to  me  and  asked 
my  permission  to  Let  him  have  Sarah,  which  I  agreed  to 
if  he  would  always  behave  himself  properly  in  my  yard. 

Little  William  Winston  came  to  stay  with  me  to  Lern  the 
Barbers  trade. 

To  day  it  was  that  Dr.  Potts  was  whiping  a  Black  man 
and  St.  Clair  walked  up  and  took  him  by  the  Collar  and 
Choked  him  and  Slung  him  around  and  then  Told  him 
to  get  on  his  Horse  and  Clear  Out,  which  he  did  do  very 
soon. 


August  29. 


To  Day  a  Boy  belonging  to  Mr  S.  Davis  was  hung  on  the 
other  side  of  the  River.  His  name  was  Nim  Rod  —  He 
was  Hung  for  Killing  the  overseer  by  the  name  of  Levels 
I  believe. 


October  4. 


The  Camp  Meeting  Broke  up  this  morning  —  Jos  Snider 
&  Earl  Clapp  Brings  Steven  Down  from  the  Camp 
Ground  —  ...  Earl  Clapp  has  Steven  streched  Out 


98 


October  13. 


whiping  Him  for  Runing  away.  He  gave  him  a  genteel 
whiping  for  me. 

I  Sent  Steven  Out  to  Col  Bingamans  to  work  in  the 
Cotton  Field. 


November  24. 


November  29. 


December  6. 


Bill,  Mc  and  myself  went  to  the  Swamp  on  a  hunt.  .  . 
and  the  Little  Rascally  Bill  Lost  all  my  Birds  after  we 
got  to  town,  and  the  way  I  whiped  him  was  the  Right 
way. 

Col.  Bingaman  Sent  Steven  in  town  to  me  to  day  and 
instead  of  Coming  in  he  went  under  the  Hill  and  got 
Drunk  I  Supose;  I  found  him  on  a  Dray  and  I  sent  Dr. 
Hogg  to  see  what  was  the  mater  with  him  and  the  Dr. 
pronounced  him  Drunk  at  first  site. 

Charles  and  Bill  Nix  goes  to  the  Circus  to  night,  and 
they  dont  go  any  more  to  Browns  Circus  this  Season,  nor 
French  Dont  go  this  week. 


January  11. 


January  27. 


March  6. 


1837 

I  hyred  Lewis  to  day  to  Mr  Thorn  Jones  to  work  with  his 
cart  and  Horse  at  Esdras  to  Take  Out  Dirt  at  $3  per 
day. 

This  morning  a  Big  Negro  Belonging  to  the  Miss  Evanss 
undertook  to  take  away  a  Horse  &  Cart  from  Milford 
Cary  for  a  Debt  Due  to  Mrs  Overraker. 

Col.  Clabourne  has  40  of  his  Slaves  put  up  to  be  Sold  at 
auction,  Report  says  they  are  sold  for  debt. 

Lawyer  Baker  has  old  Armstead  fa  free  black  named 
Armstead  Carter]  in  Jail  and  gave  him  to  day  One 
Hundred  &  Fifty  Lashes.  He  seys  that  he  stoled  four 
Hundred  Dollars  from  him. 


March  21. 


Mr.  Thorn  Evans  Came  up  to  my  shop  to  tell  French 
William  that  he  must  not  Let  him  find  Him  coming 
about  his  primices  again.  French  had  bee  peeping 
through  his  fence  at  one  of  His  Girls  on  Sunday  Last. 
Big  Madison  West  fa  free  black |  &  a  Black  Fellow  by  the 
name  of  Lewis  Wyley  (free  black)  gave  a  party  at  Robt 
Liepers  Itree  black].  French  was  invited  and  I  would  not 
Let  him  Go. 


April  10. 


I  hyred  Lucinda  to  Mr  Spielman  to  day  for  five  Dollars 
per  month. 


99 


May  2.  Auction  to  Day  at  Mesrs  Soria  &  C.  It  was  mar[s]hal 

Sale  of  thirteen  Slaves  belonging  to  Mr.  Whitney.  They 
were  Sold  for  a  $9000  Debt  of  Mr.  C.  Dart  in  which  Mr. 
C.  Dart  got  Mr  Whitney  to  indorse  for  and  that  is  the 
way  in  which  he  was  Brought  to  this  Situation.  They 
Sold  Cheap. 

May  21.  I  went  Out  to  St.  Catherine  to  fish  this  Evening  and 

took  Charles  and  Bill  Nix  with  me  and  was  to  have  met 
Mc  on  the  Banks  of  the  Creek  but  did  not  see  |him]. 

May  25.  I  arose  very  Early  in  the  morning  and  took  Bill  Nix  and 

Bill  Winston  and  mounted  Our  horses  and  crossed  the 
River  and  went  a  Fishing  in  the  Concordia  and  Cocodria 
Lake  —  Mc,  J.  Lacrose  and  G.  Butler  went  along  at  the 
Same  time  and  when  we  got  Over  to  the  Lake  we  found 
Messrs  Levi  Harrison,  Pond,  Rufner,  Cambell, 
Stevenson,  Noyes  and  Some  Darkeys  and  after  a  short 
time  young  Bell  and  H.  Austin  Came  Down.  Young  Bell 
got  Drunk  and  Lye  down  and  went  to  sleep  and  Caught 
no  fish  of  course  tho  all  the  persons  that  were  over  there 
caught  a  Greate  many.  ...  I  Left  Mc  at  the  Lake  a 
fishing.  We  Reached  town  quite  Early  in  the  Evening.  . 
.  .Mc  and  Mr.  Rufner,  Harrison  and  a  good  many  more 
Left  Late  in  the  evening  and  did  not  Get  home  until 
Oclock.  They  treed  a  Coon  on  they  way  home.  Mc  took 
an  active  part  in  killing  the  Coon. 

May  27.  Charles  started  Home  this  morning  Early.  He  Wrode  on 

my  little  mare. 

June  12.  A  Fight  took  place  this  morning  between  Mr.  George 

Lancaster  and  Big  Frank  Little  in  the  Market  House, 
Frank  Little  it  appears  whiped  Man-  Lattimore  [a  slave 
owned  by  Dr.  David  Lattimore]  as  she  terms  herself,  for 
being  at  the  Bench  Drinking  Coffee.  She  was  Left  in 
charge  of  Mr.  Lancaster  and  as  soon  as  he  herd  that  F 
Little  had  whiped  her  he  went  into  market  and 
commenced  On  F.  Little  as  hard  as  he  could  with  his 
fist.  They  had  a  pretty  sharp  fight  but  was  at  Last 
Seperated  by  the  bystanders. 

June  29.  I  Caught  old  Mary  to  night  with  a  Basket  with  7  or  8 

unbaked  Biscuit  —  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  she 
got  them  at  the  City  Hotel,  and  the  way  I  cursed  her 
was  the  right  way  and  if  Ever  I  can  hear  of  her  doing 
the  Like  again  I  will  whip  her  until  I  make  her  faint. 

June  30.  This  morning  M[other)  Commenced  as  usual  to  quarrell 

with  Everything  and  Every  body.  Knowing  perfectly  well 
what  it  Grew  Out  of,  I  thought  I  would  take  the  quickest 
way  to  stop  it,  and  I  accordingly  took  a  whip  and  gave 
her  a  few  Cuts;  As  soon  as  that  was  done  M.  commenced 


100 


to  quarrell  and  abuse  me  Saying  that  I  done  it  to  oblige 
Sarah  and  advancing  on  me  at  the  same  time  Dareing 
me  to  strike,  which  I  would  not  do  for  anything  in  the 
world.  I  shoved  her  back  from  me  three  times. 


Julv  23. 


July  24. 


August  5. 


September  28. 


I  herd  to  day  that  my  Negro  man  Walker  had  ran  away 
on  Bourd  of  Some  Steam  Bo[at]  that  Left  here  on  Friday 
Evening,  21st  inst. 

I  was  writing  and  Flying  around  Busy  as  you  please  in 
sea[r]ch  of  Waker,  that  ranaway  from  me.  Sent  a  letter 
by  Mr.  Birk  to  be  handed  to  the  Sherrif  of  Louisville 
with  a  Discription  of  the  thief  and  the  Negro  —  and  I 
also  sent  an  advertizement  to  the  office  of  the  Courrier 
to  {be}  published  in  the  daily  one  week  and  to  be 
published  in  the  weekly  until  forbid. 

To  day  I  had  ocasion  to  go  to  the  stable  and  whilst  I  was 
there  I  Descovered  something  Shaking  the  Loft  and  I 
steped  to  the  troft  and  Loked  up  and  there  I  found  Little 

with  a  Muscovia  Duck  in  the  act  of . 

He  was  freightened  very  much I  took  him  and  gave 

him  a  Genteel  whiping  and  I  intend  to  whip  him  again 
about  it. 

Mr  F.  Taylor  takes  ten  of  Mr.  Bells  Boys  for  a  Debt  Due 
to  Robins  &  Painter. 


December  6. 


December  10. 


To  day  Mr.  F.  Taylor  Told  me  that  there  was  to  be  a 
tryal  on  Saturday  next  at  the  Court  House  and  the 
Question  was  to  be  this  —  That  himself  and  Dr  Guinn 
and  Mr  McAlister  had  signed  a  paper  in  behalf  of  Robert 
Smiths  having  a  right  to  stay  in  Natchez  and  he  said  if 
the  people  of  Natchez  would  not  Let  Smith  stay  here 
that  he  intended  to  prosecute  the  Ballance  and  that  none 
should  remain  in  the  place  —  He  also  said  that  he 
believed  Robt.  Smith  to  be  an  Honest  and  as  correct  a 
Coloured  Man  as  there  was  in  Natchez  —  I  then  told 
him  that  I  knew  R.  Smith  better  than  he  did  and  I  knew 
that  at  this  present  time  he  was  run  off  from  New 
Orleans  for  Buying  Goods  from  a  Slave  Negro  and  that 
when  he  came  off  he  Left  five  hundred  Dollars  in  Mr. 
Johnsons  hand  to  pay  his  Bale  for  Johnson  went  his 
Bale  —  He  confessed  that  he  had  heard  some  thing  of 
it  and  I  told  him  that  he  was  wrong  I  thought  in  trying 
to  make  others  suffer  because  he  Could  not  gain  his 
point. 

Young  Winn  was  up  this  morning  —  Took  Breakfast 
with  us  —  He  brought  me  a  fine  mess  of  fish  from  the 
swamp.  .  .  .  Winn  [a  free  black]  is  a  poor  young  man  that 
fcould]  have  been  much  above  his  present  Circumstances 
if  he  had  only  Justice  done  him. 


101 


December  26. 


December  27. 


To  day  a  man  came  in  and  wanted  to  [seel  me,  He 
inquired  if  I  had  lost  a  Negro  man,  and  I  told  him  I  had. 
He  wanted  to  Know  how  much  I  would  give  for  the 
apprehension  of  him  and  told  him  fifty  Dollars  and  all 
Expenses  paid. 


A  Mr 


and  myself  is  about  making  a  trade  for  my 


man  Walker.  He  wanted  me  to  give  him  three  Hundred 
Dollars  for  the  Delivery  of  Walker  to  me,  Or  that  I 
would  take  three  Hundred  Dollars  for  him  Just  as  he 
stood,  We  did  not  Close  the  trade,  he  said  he  would  see 
me  again. 


January  1. 
March  2. 


1838 

To  night  I  Let  all  the  Boys  go  to  the  theatre  or  Circus. 

To  day  Robt.  Smith  from  New  Orleans  came  to  me  and 
wanted  me  to  take  a  Boy  that  Has  in  New  Orleans 

which  is  the  son  of  J S .  He  wanted  me  to 

take  the  Boy  and  Keep  Him  as  Long  as  they  were  in  this 
place  which  he  supposed  they  would  be  Here  about  three 
Years.  He  said  the  Boy  was  not  treated  wright  by  Mr.  S. 

and  for  that  Reason  he  wanted  him  away  from 

thare.  I  agreed  to  take  him  on  the  above  terms  and  He 
promised  to  write  for  him. 


March  8. 


March  19. 


To  day  I  had  to  Curse  Mr.  Brasiers  Boy  Norman  about 
Throwing  at  my  Chickens  in  his  yard  and  for  Sundry 
other  offences  —  I  had  the  promise  from  his  master 
that  if  he  misbehaves  again  that  he  would  Correct  him 
sevierly. 

Mr.  Braziers  Boy  Norman  was  caught  up  in  a  tree  I 
understand  stealing  of  Chickens  Last  night.  They  took 
him  to  Jail  and  Kept  him  there  untill  Late  to  day  and 
whiped  him  and  then  turned  him  Out. 

Steven  got  drunk  Last  night  and  went  offf]  and 
remained  all  night  and  was  not  Here  this  morning  to  go 
to  Market.  I  sent  Bill  Nix  to  the  Jail  to  see  if  He  was 
there  and  He  was  not  there.  I  then  sent  Him  out  to  Dr. 
Ogdons  and  in  going  there  He  found  Him  and  brouhgt 
Him  Down  and  Left  Him  in  the  gate  and  he  Jumped 
over  the  Fence  and  went  threw  in  Judge  Montgomerys 
yard.  Bill  He  ran  around  the  Corner  and  found  him  and 
brought  Him  in.  I  kept  him  [in|  the  shop  a  little  and 
then  sent  him  to  Help  Mrs  Lieper  to  move  from  the  Old 
House  Down  to  the  House  belonging  to  Bill  Hazard.  He 
ran  off  4  times  in  about  3  hours  and  Bill  Nix  Caught 
Him  Every  Time,  so  He  Brought  Him  Home  after  a 
while  and  I  went  to  the  stable  and  gave  him  a  pretty 


102 


sevreere  thrashing  with  the  Cow  hide  —  then  he  was 
perfectly  Calm  and  Quite  and  could  then  do  his  work. 
Tis  sincular  how  much  good  it  does  som  people  to  get 
whiped. 


March  22. 


I  wrote  the  following  Lines  and  gave  them  to  Mr. 
Umphrys  [:]  Ranaway  from  the  subscriber  in  Natchez  on 
the  21st  July  1837,  a  negro  man  by  the  name  of  Walker. 
He  is  about  forty  years  of  age  —  very  Black 
Complection,  smiles  when  spoken  to  and  shows  his  teeth 
which  are  very  sound  and  white  tho  he  chews  tobacco  to 
Excess  —  Walker  is  about  six  feet  High,  raw  Boned  and 
muscular.  He  was  brouhgt  to  this  Country  by  Mr. 
Merrett  Williams  and  Granville  Smith  and  was  sold  by 
them  to  Dr.  Duncan  &  Preston  and  was  by  them 
returned  to  Williams  and  Smith  and  was  sold  at  Sorias 
Auction  Room  where  I  purchased  him  as  an  unsound 
Slave  —  Mr.  John  Clay  of  Bourbon  County  Ky.  now 
owns  a  wife  of  Walkers  and  I  presume  he  is  now  in  that 
neighbourhood.  He  has  a  full  head  of  hair  and  a  heavy 
Beard,  tho  no  grey  hairs  in  his  head  that  I  know  of  I 
think  that  he  is  inclined  to  stoop  or  Lean  to  one  side 
when  walking.  His  feet  is  pretty  Large  —  He  I  am  told 
professes  to  belong  to  the  Baptiste  Church.  I  know  of  no 
marks  on  his  person  —  If  he  is  taken  up  to  Ky  I  will 
Give  a  reward  of  two  hundred  Dollars  when  [he]  is 
delivered  to  me  in  Natchez  or  if  he  is  in  Ohio  I  will  Give 
three  hundred  Dollars  for  his  safe  Delivery  to  me  in 
Natchez  or  I  will  Take  three  Hundred  Dollars  for  the 
Chance  of  him.  William  Johnson. 


March  27. 


Steven  ran  off  Last  night  and  God  Only  Knows  where  he 
has  gone  to,  for  I  dont,  tho  if  I  should  have  the  Good 
Luck  to  Get  Him  again  I  will  be  very  apt  to  Hurt  his 
feelings  —  This  is  the  second  time  he  has  ranaway  in  a 
week. 


March  31. 


April  5. 


April  7. 


I  got  on  my  Horse  Early  this  morning  and  wrode  Out  to 
Washington  in  search  of  Steven  but  Could  not  find  Him 
at  all.  I  also  went  Out  again  in  the  afternoon  to  Becon 
Landing  but  could  not  hear  of  Him.  During  the  time  that 
I  was  in  sea[e]ch  of  him  He  sent  me  word  that  if  I  would 
Only  let  him  off  without  whiping  him  that  he  would 
never  runaway  again  Durring  His  Life. 

I  to  day  Saw  a  Man  up  at  the  auction  Room  and  he 
wanted  to  buy  my  Girl  Sarah.  I  told  him  he  could  have 
her  for  twelve  Hundred  Dollars  in  cash.  I  intend  to  see 
about  it  To  morrow  and  if  I  can  find  out  about  him  I  will 
do  something. 

I  felt  a  degree  of  Suspicion  about  a  man  that  I  thought 
from  his  General  apearance,  would  if  he  Could,  do  me  a 


103 


Damage,  that  is,  I  thought  He  wanted  to  steal  my  Girl 
Sarah. 


May  18. 
May  30. 


June  1. 

August  24. 
September  17. 

November  4. 


My  Girl  Lucinda  Came  Home  two  or  three  days  ago  from 
Mr.  Stocktons. 

Mcs  little  Bill  Button  is  now  ranaway  from  Mc  and  he 
Sent  Dick  after  him  this  morning  and  Dick  ranaway 
himself  and  I  caught  him  this  night  and  Took  him  home 
to  Mc. 

I  went  to  the  Methodist  Church  and  Listened  on  the  Out 
Side  of  it  at  Mr.  Maffitt  Preaching  —  He  is  a  splinded 
speaker,  The  best  I  Ever  herd  in  all  my  Life. 

To  day  4  or  5  Darkeys  was  taken  up  for  Gambling. 

I  and  the  Boys  Commenced  to  Dig  Out  the  shoe  makers 
yard  and  to  make  it  Level,.  .  . 

When  I  Came  home  I  found  out  that  Charles  and  Bill 
Nix  had  Joined  the  Methodist  Church  and  Sarah  also. 


November  16. 


This  morning  quite  Early  I  Came  Down  in  my  shop  and 
found  that  the  Boys  had  Just  been  smoking  some  of  my 
Cegars  which  they  Denied.  I  Listened  a  while  and  was 
satisfied  that  they  had  stolen  them.  I  then  Boxes  Bills 
Jaws  and  Kicked  his  Back  Side  and  I  slaped  Charles 
along  side  of  the  Head  several  times. 


1839 


February  4. 


February  5. 


February  12. 


February  21. 


June  18. 


I  Gave  Winston  a  very  Seviere  Floging  to  Day  for 
impudence  and  other  Small  offences  that  He  committed. 

I  gave  Winston  &  John  to  Day  a  comple[tle  Floging  this 
morning  for  Going  home  Last  night  without  my  Leave 
and  for  other  small  offences. 

I  whiped  Winston  to  Day  again  on  account  of  his  going 
Home  to  tell  his  Mother  Lyes,  &c. 

Mr  Robt.  Smigh  Brought  me  His  Little  Boy  to  Day  To 
See  how  I  Liked  Him  To  make  a  Barber  Out  of  Him. 

I  find  by  being  absent  for  a  few  minutes  that  as  I 
returned  Bill  and  Charles  had  a  Black  Girl  at  the  Shop 
Door.  Oh  how  they  were  Shaking  Hands  and  Cutting  up 
in  Create  Friendship  —  Oh  what  Pupys.  Fondling  — 
beneath  a  Levell.  Low  minded  Creatures.  I  Look  on  them 
as  Soft. 


104 


June  19. 

June  27. 
June  28. 
July  13. 
August  19. 


Coming  from  Supper  to  night  I  [saw]  Bill  &  Charles  with 
a  Big  Nig  Standing  at  the  front  Door  as  is  usual  when  I 
am  away  —  Oh  what  low  minded  wretches. 

The  Boys  Commenced  to  Day  for  to  Level  or  move  the 
Brick  in  the  new  yard  that  is  to  be. 

The  Boys  was  a  part  of  the  Day  in  puting  up  a  fence  in 
the  yard. 

Bill  Nixs  is  up  to  this  Day  a  pure  Negro  at  Heart  and  in 
action,  &c. 

Mr.  Thomas  Evans  wal[k[ed  over  to  Esqr.  Robertiles 
office  to  Day  and  made  othe  to  Willingtons  [Wellington 
Westl  being  a  free  Born  Boy  &c. 

Natchez  16,  1839 

To  all  who  it  may  Concern.  I  do  hereby  Certify  the 
Bearer  of  a  Mullato  Boy  named  Wellington  West  is  a 
free  Boy  Born  Free  in  Natchez  in  the  year  One  thousand 
Eight  hundred  and  Seventeen  —  his  Mother  was  a 
woman  of  Black  Complection  named  Judy  West  —  was 
free  and  Lived  in  natchez  many  years  before  her  Death. 

William  Parker 

I  with  pleasure  concur  in  the  above  Certificate 

Noah  Barlow 


also  do  I 


J.  G.  Taylor 


State  Miss       Adams  County  Personally  appeared 

before  me  the  undersigned  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  and 
for  the  County  of  Thomas  L  Evans  &  made  Oath  that 
[hej  has  Known  the  Bearrer  of  this  instrument  of  writing 
&  certificat  for  many  years  back.  Since  then  I  have 
always  Known  him  to  be  a  free  man  of  Couler  and  was 
born  here  in  the  City  of  natchez  and  Born  a  free  man  to 
the  Best  of  my  belief  and  his  name  is  Wellington  West. 
August  19,  1839  Thos.  L.  Evans 


February  27. 


May  2. 


1840 

John  ran  away  this  morning  and  went  under  the  Hill 
and  cut  several  Shines  for  which  I  Gave  him  a  Good 
Whiping  to  night  together  with  some  advice. 

I  moved  my  man  Phil  and  his  wife  Silvia  up  to  my 
dwelling  House  the  other  day  —  I  Bot  them  the  day 
before  vesterdav  from  Col  Wavmouth  of  Main  Street. 


105 


May  18. 


There  was  a  man  Sold  a  negro  yesterday  at  Auction  and 
stole  him  again  Last  night,  and  a  negro  girl  from  Capt 
Barlow.  The  name  of  the  Girl  was  Marv. 


May  24. 


May  25. 


June  1. 


I  wrote  some  passes  Last  night,  One  for  Phillip,  1  for 
Sarah  [and]  One  [for]  Lucinda  to  Go  Out  to  Brackets  to 
a  Preaching  and  neither  of  them  Came  Home  at  all  Last 

Night. 

I  was  Out  of  Humor  this  morning  the  first  thing  and  by 
way  of  Commencing  Business  I  whipped  Lucinda,  Sarah, 
and  Steven  On  account  of  the  Bracket  meeting. 

James  O'Farrell  came  up  this  morning  from  New 
Orleans  and  reports  that  Himself  and  some  of  the 
Guards  arrested  the  man  that  Stole  Mr.  Barlows  Black 
Girl  Mary  and  that  He  was  safe  in  the  Jail  in  New 
Orleans. 


July  18. 


July  24. 


July  27. 


August  10. 


September  3. 


September  4. 


Steven  ran  off  Last  night  and  was  Brought  Home  by  Mr. 
Hendesee  after  Breakfast  this  morning  and  Beg  Him  off 
from  a  good  whiping. 

I  had  a  settlement  with  Sterns  [Washington  Sterns,  free 
black  barber]  to  night  and  told  him  I  could  not  afford  to 
Keep  him  any  Longer  and  that  his  maner  of  doing 
business  would  never  do.  To  be  Drunk  1/2  of  his  time 
would  never  Suit  me  nor  my  Customers  and  I  paid  him 
twenty  Dollars  in  good  money  and  then  He  said  that  he 
work  for  his  vituals,  that  he  did  not  care  for  the  wages. 

Mr  Barlow  gave  Sterns  a  regular  Flogging  and  so  did 
one  of  [the]  Negro  men  and  the  old  Fellow  wran  over  the 
Bluff —  A.  Lieper  Hauled  him  home. 

Steven  got  Drunk  to  day  and  walked  of[f]  and  I.  after  he 
had  been  Brot  Home,  hand  Cuffed  him  and  Floged  Him. 
In  the  first  place  I  knocked  him  Down  at  the  Building  — 
he  then  ran  away,  but  was  soon  Brought  Back  again  and 
when  he  came  back  he  was  so  drunk  that  he  Could  not 
walk,  talk  or  do  any  [  thing]  Else  —  I  gave  him  Late  in 
the  afternoon  a  tolerable  severe  whiping  and  Left  him. 
so  the  First  thing  I  know  the  Rascal  had  ranaway. 

And  Steven  Got  Drunk  to  Day  also  and  walked  off,  tho 
Charles  found  him  and  Brought  him  Home  and  I  have 
him  now  in  Chains  awaiting  for  better  times. 

I  Gave  Steven  a  tall  Flogging  this  morning  and  turned 
him  Loose  to  work  again. 


106 


October  3. 


I  agreed  to  Let  Bill  Nix  go  up  with  Col  Bingaman  and 
the  rest  of  the  Whig  Delegates  from  this  place  to 
Jackson. 


October  4. 


To  Night  two  strangers  come  in  my  Shop  to  get  theare 
Hair  Cut  and  after  it  was  Done  C  looked  at  a  Breast  pin 
and  they  asked  him  what  (he]  thought  it  was  worth,  He 
said  about  $50.  The  owner  Said  yes,  a  hundred  of  them, 
and  remarked  that  C.  put  his  hand  to  his  Bosom  when 
he  got  up,  After  which  he  Said  that  he  never  saw  the  pin 
any  moore  and  after  a  Long  and  Tyresome  search  for  it. 
He  as  good  as  said  it  was  taken  Out  of  his  Bosom.  C. 
deserves  to  be  accused  of  it  for  puting  his  hand  to  the 
Mans  Breast  and  B  [Bill]  for  Leaving  the  Room  when 
the  search  was  agoing  on.  I  am  well  Satisfied  that  it  was 
not  in  the  Room  on  the  Floor  to  Night. 

I  walked  Down  to  the  Shop  Early  this  moring  and 
Enquired  of  Charles  if  he  had  found  the  mans  Breast  pin 
yet  and  he  told  me  that  he  had  not  seen  it  and  I  Looked 
on  the  floor  as  I  stood  in  front  of  my  desk  and  thare 
Laved  the  Pin  under  my  writing  Desk  on  the  Flour 
where  it  had  Evidently  been  place  by  Some  One  —  It 
was  a  plain  Case  as  Ever  Came  under  my  observation. 
It  Leaves  me  to  think  much,  very  much  —  Oh  that 
Butter  will  run,  will  run  so. 


October  8. 


October  29. 


October  30. 


Bill  and  Charles  went  out  to  Camp  meeting  this 
morning,  One  on  my  Sorril  Horse  and  the  other  on  my 
Grey  Horse.  I  very  soon  after  wrote  a  Couple  of  passes, 
one  for  Phillip  and  the  [other]  for  Stephen  and  Let  them 
Go  untill  to  morrow  morning  Early. 

Steven  ranaway  soon  this  morning.  He  got  Drunk  and 
then  put  off. 

I  had  Steven  put  in  the  Chain  Gang  to  day  after  dinner 
—  McCary  found  him  on  the  top  of  wagon  and  took  him 
off  and  sent  me  word. 


1841 


January  2. 
January  8. 


Mr  McDanial,  Chain  Gang  man,  ranaway  from  Natchez 
and  took  all  of  His  Force. 

Bill  and  Charles  and  Wellington  all  goes  out  to  a  Party 
Given  by  a  servant  of  the  Missis  Evans  out  at  there 
Residence  —  Butter,  Butter  will  run  in  suitable  wether. 


February  7. 


I  herd  to  day  that  John  and  Winston  was  up  about  the 
Lake  a  Hunting  and  I  took  my  Horse  in  the  afternoon 
and  wrode  up  thare  and  Caught  Both  of  them  and  gave 


107 


February  22. 
March  2. 

March  6. 


them  Both  a  Floging  and  took  away  there  Guns  —  I 
threw  away  Winstons  as  far  as  I  could  in  the 
Mississippi. 

I  saw  a  number  of  negroes  belonging  to  Capt  Coton  for 
sale  at  the  Court  House.  .  .  . 

Steven  got  drunk  this  morning  and  ranaway  —  Bill 
found  Him  out  in  the  Body  of  a  Cart  under  the  Brick 
shed  and  Brought  Him  Home. 

I  met  with  several  Disapointments  during  the  day  —  In 
the  First  place  when  I  got  up  this  morning  I  found  that 
Steven  had  not  fed  the  Horses  nor  gone  to  work  —  After 
Breakfast  I  found  Him  in  the  Guard  House.  Had  been 
taken  up  during  the  night  drunk  and  put  in  thare  —  I 
had  him  Flogged  and  then  turned  Him  Out  and  sent 
Him  down  to  work. 


April  2. 


April  4. 
April  5. 
April  7. 
April  29. 

May  1. 

Mav  4. 


May  12. 


To  Day  the  young  man  Phelps  Came  and  wanted  me  to 
pay  Him  for  catching  Steven.  I  Gave  Eight  Pieces  of 
Paper  for  it,  Such  as  I  sell  for  5  Bits  a  Roll,  which  is 
Just  five  Dollars  that  the  Infernal  Rascal  has  Cost  me 
precisely  —  not  to  Include  His  days  work. 

I  kept  the  Boys  Home  to  day  untill  Dinner  time  at  their 
Books. 

I,  Bill  &  Charles  were  all  down  at  the  Animal  Show  and 
John  was  runaway  at  the  same  time. 

Charles  &  Winston  &  John  all  Looking  for  my  Cow  this 
Evening  and  could  not  find  Her  at  all. 

A  Man  belonging  to  the  Harman  Estate  was  murdered 
Last  Night  in  the  Road.  The  Murderers  tryed  to  Burn  up 
the  Corpse  after  they  Had  murdered  Him. 

I  took  a  Boy  by  the  name  of  Edmond  from  Mr.  N. 
Hoggatt  to  day  to  Lern  the  trade  of  Haircutting  & 
shaving  &c. 

To  Day  I  went  up  to  McCarys  Shop  and  told  Him  that  I 
had  two  Little  Boys  and  was  requested  by  Mr.  Hogatt  to 
get  situations  for  them  to  Learn  a  trade  of  some  Kind  — 
He  wanted  one  of  them  and  I  Gave  Him  Choice  of  the 
two,  Jefferson  and  William.  He  Liked  the  Look  of  Wm 
Best  tho  Wm  told  Him  that  He  wanted  to  Live  with  me 
so  Mc  then  said  He  would  take  the  other  —  Accordingly 
I  sent  jeff  up  to  Him  this  Evening. 

This  morning  Shortly  After  Breakfast  time  The  Boy 
William  ran  off  and  Took  with  Him  Jeff,  His  Brother. 


108 


that  I  had  put  with  McCary.  They  both  went  Out  Home. 
They  are  Boys  that  were  put  with  me  by  Mr.  N.  Hogatt. 
William  was  the  Cause  in  Toto  —  From  what  I  have 
seen  of  Him  I  am  Inclined  to  think  that  He  is  a  Boy  of 
no  kind  of  Energy. 

May  14.  I  am  Nervous  to  Day  And  will  have  some  fighting  to  do 

before  night  I  do  Expect,  Tho  I  hope  not,  Cincerely  do  I, 
and  I  will  try  to  Keep  Cool. 

Very  Sincular  that  Steven  ranaway  to  day  And  the  two 
Boys  that  ranaway  the  other  day  should  have  returned 
at  the  same  time.  Jus  as  One  ranawav  two  Came  back. 


I  wrode  out  this  afternoon  to  the  Forks  of  the  Road  to 
try  and  swop  Stepen  off  for  Some  One  Else,  But  could 
find  no  one  that  I  would  Like. 

May  16.  John  has  a  Pistol  Taken  from  Him  to  day  and  Caps.  He 

was  making  Preperation  to  Hunt,  After  being  foiled  in 
his  opperations  He  got  on  Bourd  of  Steamer  Constelation 
and  went  to  New  Orleans  —  Steven  is  runaway  too  at 
the  present  time. 

June  6.  Pheebe,  the  mother  of  William  &  Jeff,  Children  of  Mr. 

Wilford  Hogatt,  Came  in  together  with  Emeline  & 
Misouri  and  Little  January  Hogat  —  they  remained 
until  after  Dinner  and  then  Left  Leaving  Misouri  and 
January  to  stay  in  town  —  The  Boy  is  to  stay  with  the 
girl  as  Company  for  Her,  for  a  few  days.  Tis  a  good  Idea. 
But  from  the  appearance  of  the  Little  Girl  I  am  inclined 
to  think  she  is  stuborn  and  of  Strong  passions  and  not 
Easily  managed  —  I  am  pretty  shure  that  is  the  Case 
with  her. 

June  7.  To  Day  the  Capital  offence  Came  of[f]  before  the  Court., 

i.e.,  the  tryal  of  Isum  for  the  murder  of  Mr.  Wilford 
Hogatt  —  He  was  found  Guilty  (Later  overturned  by  a 
state  Appeals  Court). 

June  8.  To  Day  the  Trial  of  Mr.  John  Barland  (free  black)  Comes 

on  for  the  Murder  of  Fitzjeral  and  he  will  get  clear  of  it 
as  Easy  as  possible. 

July  5.  The  Little  Black  fellow  Shedrac  Murdered  the  Cook  Ned 

at  the  Mansion  House  to  day  in  a  fight  —  it  was 
supposed  to  be  an  old  Grudge. 

July  6.  ...   the  Boy  Shedrac   .   .   .   was  tryed  before  Justice 

Robetile,  Mr.  Vannerson  in  the  behalf  of  the  Prisner  and 
no  one  in  behalf  of  the  State  He  was  cleared  of  Course. 


109 


July  14. 
July  19. 


July  20. 


Julv  24. 


August  18. 


August  20. 


Charles  made  a  run  to  night  that  was  no  way  slow,  the 
City  Guard  was  after  him. 

The  Little  Boy  Gim  of  Mr.  Hoggats  that  I  had,  wran 
away  this  morning  and  went  Out  Home  And  I  Sent  Out 
William  Winst  and  Edmond  after  him  tho  they  did  not 
find  him.  Edmond  then  Kept  On  Out  Home  and  has  not 
returned  yet  and  it  is  now  night. 

Edmond  Came  home  from  Mr  Hoggatts  to  day  and  did 
not  bring  Gim  with  him. 

Large  Comp  of  Our  Citizens  went  out  to  day  in  the 
Bayous  in  search  of  Runaway  Negroes.  Capt  Ruffner  & 
Mr.  McAlister,  Mr  Joseph  Mensho  and  a  number  of  Our 
Respectable  Citizens  was  out  —  Mr  R.  finds  a  fire 
Burning  in  the  woods  —  Jo  Mesho  finds  a  Bucket  of 
meat  in  a  tree  where  the  Runaways  has  been  tho  there 
was  no  Negroes  Caught  that  has  been  Known. 

The  Horrows  of  the  Inquisition  is  going  On  still  in  this 
City,  It  Seems  that  Dr.  Merrell  and  the  Jg  [Judge)  has 
a  tryal  this  Evening  I  have  not  herd  any  thing  moore 
about  it.  The  report  of  Harriet  Cullen  or  Harriet  Johnson 
(free  mulatto)  being  in  Jail  is  not  true,  She  was  not  put 
in  Jail,  Glad  of  it. 

Steven  is  drunk  to  day  or  this  Evening  and  gone  on  the 
town  somewhere. 


August  21. 


Yesterday  Ann  Perkins  that  was  Commited  to  Jail  some 
3  days  ago  was  tryed  under  Habeas  Copus  —  She 
prooved  that  She  was  of  Indian  Decent  and  Came  of]fl 
Clear  —  Mr  T.  Armatt  was  her  Council  —  Saunders  & 

Thatcher  V.  S.  Her  —  She  was  put  in  by  a 

by  the  name  of  Sandy  Parsons  —  His  witness  [was] 
Peter  Lardence  —  Big  Berry  Duncan  was  cleared  at  the 
same  time  and  Ordered  to  Leave  the  state  in  thirty 
Days.  Fullman  was  also  tryed  at  the  same  time  and  the 
result  was  the  same  as  in  the  case  of  Berry  Duncan.  To 
day  Big  Francis  and  her  Daughter  was  tryed  I  believe 
and  was  put  in  jail  for  further  notice,  &c. 

The  meetings  are  Still  Going  on  in  the  Inquisitions 
Court,  The  Lord  Only  Knows  the  result,  Phill  Came  up 
from  the  Swamp  this  Evening.  Seys  they  are  well.  The 
Following  Gentlemen  Signed  William's  Petition  To  Day 
—  Co.  A.  L.  Bingaman,  Mr.  Duffield,  Col.  Wilkins,  Capt. 
Nevitt.  I  confess  there  is  Something  about  this  Law  that 
I  do  not  understand,  Report  Seys  that  a  Bond  is  required 
after  the  Lycences  is  obtained.  I  cannot  understand  the 
mater  fully. 


110 


August  22. 


August  24. 


To  day  I  wrode  down  into  the  swamp  and  took  Steven 
with  me  and  Left  him  at  Mr.  Gregorys  to  work  at  the 
rates  of  20  dollars  per  month  —  He  had  Just  been  Brot 
in  from  Mr.  Minors  Quarter  and  I  had  to  pay  4  dollars 
for  taking  him  up. 

Lotts  of  F.  P.  C.  are  running  around  Town  with  Petitions 
to  have  the  Priveledge  of  remaining  in  the  state,  tis 
Laug[h]able  almost,  Wellington  [West}  was  out  into  the 
Country  this  Evening  to  have  his  Petition  signed  and  He 
got  the  following  Gentlemen  on  his  Paper  —  Dr.  Steven 
Duncan  &  Col  A  L  Bingaman,  Dr  Calhoun,  Col.  Wilkins, 
Mr.  R.  C.  Evans,  Mr  J  Routh,  Mr  S.  D.  Elliotte  —  Those 
names  are  Enough  to  make  any  Common  man  Proud.  — 
Those  Names  are  an  Ornament  to  Any  Paper  —  Those 
are  Gentlemen  of  the  1st  Order  of  Talents  and  Standing. 


September  12. 


I  understood  this  morning  Early  that  Steven  was  in 
town  and  I  knew  if  he  was  in  town  that  he  must  have 
runaway  from  Mr.  Gregory  where  I  had  hired  fhiml  to 
haul  wood  in  the  swamp.  It  was  after  Breakfast  and  I 
got  on  my  Horse  and  wrode  up  the  street  and  I  found 
him  in  the  Back  Sr.  near  P.  Bakers  —  Gave  him  a  tap  or 
two  with  my  wriding  whip  and  then  Brot  him  to  my 
shop  and  in  a  few  minutes  after  I  got  to  the  shop  Mr 
vernon  Came  to  inform  me  that  Steven  had  took  a  watch 
from  one  of  his  men  and  that  he  had  been  seen  to  have 
it  and  that  he  had  take  it  yesterday  as  he  passed  there. 
I  Commenced  a  Search  on  his  person  and  I  found  it  in 
his  Coat  Pocket.  I  gave  it  to  Mr.  Vernon  and  was  Glad 
that  he  Came  So  Soon  for  it.  I  then  made  him  get  on  a 
horse  and  go  on  down  to  Mr.  Vernons  place  and  there  I 
made  his  Driver  Give  him  a  good  Floging  with  his  Big 
Whip.  I  then  took  him  down  as  far  as  Mr.  Fords  Land 
and  Left  him  with  Mr.  Gregory  and  he  took  him  down 
and  Set  him  to  work. 


September  29. 


Justices  offce  were  full  all  day.  They  were  trying  a  boy 
[of]  Mr  Fields.  The  Boy  was  sentenced  to  be  whiped  but 
was  not.  His  master  [enteredl  an  apeal  I  herd. 

Two  runaways,  the  One  belonging  to  Mr.  Sevier,  the 
other  belonging  to  Mr.  Samuel  Davis  Esqr  —  They  were 
found  in  the  House  of  Mr  Garnet  Howell,  Esqr.  Said  tc 
have  been  Kept  thare  by  his  boy  in  the  absence  of  Mr. 
Howell  and  Familv. 


September  30. 


The  officers  went  in  search  of  Mr  G.  Howells  Boy  to  day, 
to  have  him  up  about  his  having  those  runaways  in  his 
House,  but  they  Could  not  find  Him.  Mr  Earnest  is  the 
agent  of  Mr  Howell,  and  was  very  Angry  at  the 
Proceedings  of  those  Gentlemen  who  arrested  the  Boys. 


Ill 


October  5. 


October  16. 


October  24. 


November  8. 


November  23. 


I  gave  the  Boys  Several  Lessons  to  day  in  reading  and 
writing  in  there  Room. 

Charles  Went  to  the  Circus  to  night.  He  was  perswaded 
to  go  by  Bill  Nix  —  Wellington  went  also  —  I  Gave  all 
three  of  them  a  pass  to  go. 

Steven  ranaway  this  morning  from  fear  of  being  Sold  — 
Gregory  Came  up  from  the  swamp  to  day  and  paid  me 
twenty  Dollar  wages  for  Steven  —  Phill  Came  up  from 
the  Swamp  to  Day  Sick. 

Steven  was  taken  this  morning  by  Bill  Nix  and  Brot 
Home  —  When  taken  he  had  a  hot  loaf  of  Bread  under 
his  arm  —  Tomorrow  is  a  week  Since  that  He  would 
have  been  Out  —  no  5  days. 

I  Gave  Lucinday  a  Good  Floging  this  Evening  for  her 
Conduct  on  yesterday.  She  asked  Leave  to  go  to  Church 
yesterday  and  in  place  of  going  to  Church  a[nd| 
rema[i|ning  she  went  off  in  some  private  Room,  the 
Little  Strumpet. 

Steven  ranaway  this  morning  from  Mr.  Raby  —  Mr  Rose 
Brought  Steven  to  me  this  Evening  Quite  Drunk.  I  Took 
him  Home  and  gave  him  about  a  Hundred  then  Let  Him 
Go  for  Reasons. 


November  27. 


December  15. 


Col  Bingaman  and  Mr  Elliotte  and  Several  others  Left 
for  New  Orleans  this  Evening  Taking  allong  Bill  Nix  as 
Body  Servant. 

Gave  my  Little  William  a  very  seviere  whiping  to  day  up 
at  the  Shop  for  his  bad  Conduct,  Throwing  Brick  and  so 
forth,  and  sent  Him  Down  Home  —  oh  I  gave  him  what 
I  thought  was  right. 


1842 


Januarv  5. 


T  saw  Little  Winn  to  day  and  he  Had  Mosbeys  negro 
man  up  with  him  to  Sell  him  to  rais  money  to  pay  Mr. 
Withers. 


Januarv  13. 


April  16. 


I  was  up  at  Mr  Soria  Auction  Room  and  there  they  were 
selling  a  woman  belonging  to  Mosbey  and  I  at  the 
request  of  Winn  bid  her  in  at  296  Dolls  and  I  told  him 
that  if  she  suited  my  Family  that  I  would  Keep  her  and 
if  not  I  would  try  and  sell  her  for  him. 

Steven  was  Home  twice  to  day  and  wranaway  again.  He 
was  Drunk  but  will  be  Caught  when  he  Dont  think 
about  it. 


112 


Julv  9. 


I  Spoke  to  A.  L.  Wilson  the  other  day  to  procure  me  a 
passage  on  the  Steam  Boat,  Maid  of  Arkensaw,  which  he 
promised  to  do  and  to  day  when  the  Boat  Came  I  went 
down  to  see  about  it  and  I  saw  him  and  He  told  me  that 
he  had  spoke  to  the  Capt.  and  that  he  had  Refused  to  let 
a  State  Room,  But  that  my  wife  Could  have  the  whole  of 
the  Ladies  Cabbin  to  Herself  but  it  was  a  Rule  on  his 
Boat  not  to  Let  any  Col  persons  have  State  Rooms  on 
Her  —  I  askd  him  to  go  with  me  on  Bourd  —  He  went 
on  Board  and  showed  me  the  Capt.  and  I  asked  him  if 
could  not  spare  a  State  Room  and  he  told  me  that  He 
Could  not  spare  one  that  it  was  against  the  Rules  of  His 
Boat  and  that  he  had  said  it  once  and  that  was  Enough 
and  that  he  was  a  man  of  his  word  and  Spoke  of 
Prejudice  of  the  Southern  people,  it  was  damd  Foolish, 
etc,  and  that  he  was  doing  a  Business  for  other  people 
and  was  Compelld  to  adopt  thos  Rules. 


1843 


January  26. 


Steven  ran  away  this  morning  after  geting  drunk.  I  will 
astonish  him  some  of  these  days  if  he  is  not  Carefu.. 


Januarv  27. 


Steven  was  in  jail  this  mornig  and  I  went  and  took  him 
Out  and  Floged  Him  not  a  Little.  He  was  taken  up  by  a 
Duchman  who  had  him  before  Esqr.  Rivers  and  tryed  to 
make  it  appear  that  he  had  Stollen  some  things  from  Dr. 
Oghdens,  but  Steven  got  up  and  Cleared  his  own  self 
before  the  Jurv  in  a  minute. 


February  21. 


April  10. 


I  bot  a  Little  Boy  by  the  name  of  Anderson  from  Mr. 
Thornton  who  signed  his  name  as  Agent  for  a  Mr. 
Covington. 

Bank  Bill  and  Willis  had  there  trial  to  day,  was  both 
Sentenced  to  receive  thirty  nine  Lashes  on  ther  bear 
Backs  which  was  done. 


August  7. 


Henry  Adams  and  wife  was  sold  to  day  at  the  Court 
House.  They  brot  1600  dollars  I  am  told.  6  months 
Credit  —  Bot  for  old  Mrs  Brabston,  I  am  told. 


August  14. 
August  15. 

August  23. 
August  24. 


Steven  ranaway  yesterday  and  was  brot  Home  to  day  by 
Bill  Nix.  I  gave  him  a  floging  and  let  him  go. 

Flavius  Fletcher  Killed  Iccum  belonging  to  Mrs  McCray 
Last  night.  He  was  shot  at  Mr  Amatt  plantation,  F  has 
got  out  of  the  way  —  made  himself  Scarce. 

Steven  ranaway  Monday  and  has  not  Come  Home  yet. 

I  came  very  near  Cetching  Steven  to  night,  he  was  in  the 


113 


Stable  ajoin[in]g  mine  but  he  Jumped  out  and  ran  into 
the  weeds  somewhere. 


August  27. 


.  .  .  more  than  one  of  Mrs  Lintons  Black  men  by  the 
name  of  Rolla  beat  Mr.  Preston  this  afternoon  up  at  Mrs 
Lintons  Gate.  It  was  Whilst  he  was  in  Company  with 
some  Ladies.  His  friend  Fouler  or  Fuller  of  Some  Such 
name  was  with  [him]  and  was  prevented  from  assisting 
Mr  Preston  by  Mrs  Lintons  Carriage  Driver,  who  would 
seize  him  when  Ever  he  attempted  to  interfear. 
Considerable  fuss  about  it  to  night,  8  of  the  Guards 
Ordered  Out.  Greate  time  indeed  —  . 


Charles  was  over  the  River  to  day  a  fishing  and  came 
home  Drunk  —  Wanted  to  marry  an  old  Black  mans 
Daughter  and  told  the  old  man  to  Refer  to  Wheelock  & 
Savers,  A.  L.  Wilson,  or  Erhart  &  Foster  if  he  wanted  to 
know  about  his  character. 


August  28. 


September  2. 


Nothing  New  but  the  Out  Rage  Committed  yesterday  on 
the  Person  of  Mr  Preston  by  a  Black  man  belonging  to 
Mrs  Linton.  The  Boy  has  ran  off  and  is  not  tobe  found  at 
all  —  there  has  been  a  greate  deal  to  say  about  it. 

Mr.  Collingsworth  the  overseer  of  Judge  Covington  made 
the  Driver  take  hold  of  One  of  his  Boys  to  flog  him  and 
the  Fellow  stabbed  the  Driver  and  cut  off  the  arm  of 
Collingsworth  and  ranaway  but  has  been  Caught  Since 
and  is  in  Jail.  This  was  in  La. 


September  4. 


September  5. 


September  24. 


Mr.  Knight  has  his  Boy  Lenson  whiped  and  he 
Confessed  to  have  been  stealing  for  some  time  from  him. 
and  he  gave  the  names  of  Mrs  Irvin  Frank,  Buckanans 
Grocery,  and  Whites  and  Sam  Magruder  and  several 
others  that  I  have  nearly  forgote.  .  .  . 

To  day  Came  off  the  tryal  before  Eskr  Wood,  Mr.  Preston 
VS.  Mrs  Lintons  Servants.  Beverly  was  tried  and 
Sentenced  to  thirty  nine  Lashes  and  the  other,  Rolla, 
was  Comited  to  court.  This  offence  was  this  that  the 
black  man  Choked  and  beat  Preston  for  striking  or 
attempting  to  strike  him. 

Near  11  Oclock  to  day  Phill  Came  down  Main  St. 
Leading  Steven  who  had  gone  up  the  street  and  had  go 
drunk,  very  drunk.  I  was  Buisy  at  the  time  and  Could 
not  get  out  to  see  him.  He  managed  to  Slip  away  from 
Phill  and  got  in  Mrs  Dumax  yard,  Phill  caught  him  and 
brot  him  to  the  Shop  and  put  him  Care  for  the  minutes 
of  Bill  Nix  who  Let  him  Slip  out  and  he  broke  a  sash  in 
the  door  or  pane  of  Glass,  he  then  ran  off  around  the 
Corner  and  the  Boys  took  after  him  and  I  followed  but 
could  not  See  him.  They  however  Caught  him  Some 


114 


where  up  town  and  brot  him  down.  When  he  found  that 
I  was  not  there  he  cut  up  Greate  Shines,  got  in  a  fight 
with  one  of  the  men,  and  Italian  that  Lives  in  a  part  of 
my  House,  Antonio  Lynch.  He  bit  the  Italians  hand  a 
Little.  All  this  was  done  whilst  I  was  up  the  street  and 
when  I  came  down  they  had  put  him  in  the  Guard 
House. 

Just  before  we  went  out  [to  the  country]  Winston  whiped 
Mrs  Jordans  Ann.  He  pelted  her  with  his  fist.  She  had 
called  him  a  Lyar  the  night  before. 


September  25. 


I  went  to  the  guard  House  this  morning  after  Breakfast 
and  took  Steven  Out,  tho  not  untill  the  Capt.  Hanstable 
had  given  him  thirty  nine  Lashes  with  a  whip  which  the 
Italian  Said  he  was  satisfied.  When  i  took  him  home  the 
fellow  would  not  agree  to  have  the  hand  cuffs  on  after  he 
had  Sliped  one  of  his  hands  out,  tho  I  whip  him  a  Little. 
No  doubt  will  give  more  in  time  to  Come.  He  is  now 
jailed  up  in  my  Corn  Cribb.  I  intend  to  send  him  to  New 
Orleans  Soon. 


October  1. 


Camp  Meeting  Commenced  To  Day,  no  it  was  yesterday. 
William  Nick  went  down  to  Martin  Millers  and  hyred  a 
Horse,  a  Cabb  or  Bugy,  and  Drove  out  to  Comp  meeting 
taking  Dick  and  Charles  with  him  and  they  Started  from 
thare  Early  and  Came  in  Slow.  .  .  . 


November  6. 


Tis  [this]  night  that  Bill  acknoledged  that  he  did  Stay 
with  a  Black  woman  by  the  name  of  Lucinda  that 
Belonged  to  the  Gemmel  Estate. 


December  2. 


Four  Overseers  on  the  other  Side  of  the  River  Took  Old 
Moses  out  and  beat  him  nearly  to  death  to  night.  The 
names  of  the  men  were  Buck,  Keiger,  Deputy,  and  the 
Felow  that  got  his  arm  Cut  sc  at  Judge  Covington  place. 


December  19. 


Steven  is  drunk  to  day  and  is  on  the  town  but  I  herd  of 
him  arond  at  Mr.  Brovert  Butlers  and  I  sent  around 
thare  and  had  him  brot  Home  and  I  have  him  now  up  in 
the  garret  fast  and  I  will  Sell  him  if  I  Can  get  Six 
Hundred  Dollars  for  him.  I  was  offered  550  to  day  for 
him  but  would  not  take  it.  he  must  go  for  he  will  drink. 


December  29. 


Several  Balls  about  town  to  night,  An  Irish  ball  or  two, 
then  there  were  Darkev  Balls. 


December  30. 


I  Expect  from  what  past  between  Mr  Cannon  and  myself 
that  he  will  take  Steven  On  Monday  if  Nothing  Happens 
—  And  what  is  the  Cause  of  my  parting  with  him,  why 
it  is  noting  but  Liquor,  Liquor,  His  fondness  for  it. 
Nothing   more,   Poor   Fellow.   There   are   many   worse 


115 


fellows  than  poor  Steven  is,  God  Bless  Him.  Tis  his  Own 
fault. 


December  31. 


To  day  has  been  to  me  a  very  Sad  Day;  many  tears  was 
in  my  Eyes  to  day  On  acct.  of  my  Selling  poor  Steven.  I 
went  under  the  hill  this  Evening  to  See  him  of[fl  but  the 
Boat  did  not  Cross  over  again  and  Steven  got  drunk  in 
a  few  minutes  and  I  took  him  Home  &  made  him  Sleep 
in  the  garret  and  Kept  him  Safe. 


1844 


January  1. 


January  6. 


January  9. 
January  16. 

January  17. 


January  18. 


I  rested  bad  last  night.  I  had  much  Care  On  my  mind, 
the  night  appeared  very  Long  —  I  got  up  this  morning 
Early  and  took  Steven  with  me  down  to  the  Ferry  Boat 
and  gave  him  up  to  the  Overseer  of  Young  &  Cannon. 
Crawford  was  his  name.  I  gave  Steven  a  pair  fofl 
Suspenders  and  a  pr  of  Socks  and  2  Cigars,  Shook  hands 
with  him  and  see  [him]  go  On  Bourd  for  the  Last  time. 
I  felt  hurt  but  Liquor  is  the  Cause  of  his  troubles;  I 
would  not  have  parted  with  Him  if  he  had  Only  have  let 
Liquor  alone  but  he  Cannot  do  it  I  believe. 

A  trial  Came  of|f]  before  Esqr  Woods  to  day  and  it  was 
Parkhurst  was  tryed  for  Stealing  a  Darkey  belonging  to 
Fields.  I  herd  that  the  man  did  belong  to  Parkhurst  and 
to  prevent  his  Creditors  from  geting  him  he  gave  Him  to 
Wm  Purnell  and  it  appears  that  Purnell  Sold  the  man  to 
Fields  and  that  PKT,  thinking  that  he  would  get  nothing 
for  the  man,  He  gives  him  a  pass  and  tryes  to  get  Him 
offf]  up  the  River  and  he  was  arested  in  it  Some  way  or 
other  and  the  Justice  Woods  required  bail  in  the  Sum  of 
One  Thousand  Dollars,  in  default  of  which  Parkhurst 
was  Commited  to  Jail  until  Court,  which  is  in  May  some 
time. 

William  Nix  Commences  to  work  Again,  got  up  from 
New  Orleans  Last  Evening. 

Winston  went  Out  this  morning  after  Breakfast  and 
after  a  very  Long  and  tedious  ride  found  my  Horse  in 
the  dixon  Field,  He  drove  them  Home. 

Baylor  Winn  Brot  up  the  three  Servants  belonging  to 
Judge  Boyd,  He  told  me  that  he  Caught  them  Down  in 
the  Woods  Close  to  the  mouth  of  St.  Catherine.  He  brot 
them  up  this  morning,  Yound  Gim  Kenney  has  made  his 
Escape.  He  was  the  Cause  of  their  runing  away.  They 
were  put  in  Jail. 

I  bought  a  man  by  the  name  of  Billy  from  a  Mr.  Hanks 
to  day.  He  was  in  Company  with  Mr  Miderhoff  at  the 


116 


February  1. 


February  29. 


time.  Our  agreement  was  that  I  was  to  pay  One  hundred 
and  Seventy  Dollars  for  Billy  in  Cash,  and  thirty  Dollars 
more  Mr  Miderhoff  agreed  to  take  Out  in  Shaving  &c 
with  me. 

Just  as  I  got  Opposite  the  Shop  I  Saw  Bill,  Charles,  Dick 
a[nd]  Winston  all  Just  walking  Out  to  market  to  take 
Coffee,  and  I  called  Winston  back  and  went  in.  Old 
Wilgus  who  I  permitted  to  Lay  on  the  Sofa  all  night  was 
Just  Geting  up  and  I  found  that  the  Little  Table  had 
been  moved  and  that  the  Boys  had  been  playing  Cards 
all  night  in  my  room. 

I  was  up  at  the  Wemple  Store  this  Evening  and  I  Saw 
Ellen  sold,  She  was  Bot  in  the  name  of  Bridget,  Her 
mother,  and  was  struck  off  at  440  Dollars.  Mr  Emerson 
made  a  Long  speech  in  her  behalf  and  Said  Some  soft 
things,  .  .  . 

Then  James  was  put  up  and  I  bid  on  Him  a  time  or  two 
and  then  Stoped.  I  had  got  a  Gentleman  to  bid  for  me  So 
that  Some  individuals  would  not  run  him  up  on  me  two 
high,  tho  they  did  run  him  on  me  to  $790  where  he  was 
then  Knocked  of[f]  to  me,  through  Mr.  Canon. 


March  4. 


James  Came  Home  this  morning  to  work,  Brot  His 
things  down  in  the  forenoon.  I  Set  him  to  work  to  clean 
our  the  Corn  House,  .  .  .  which  he  did  with  the 
assistance  of  Winston. 


March  7. 


March  14. 


March  17. 


Jim  and  Frank  Commenced  to  day  to  plough.  They 
ploughed  all  over  the  yard. 

I  Receved  a  Letter  from  Mrs  Miller  to  day  and  She 
Spoke  of  the  dark  Clerke  and  requested  me  never  to 
Send  anything  more  by  him  again,  a  Rascal  &c. 

To  day  Mr  Walsh  Brong  the  two  Little  Scoundrels  that 
Broks  into  my  shop  under  the  Hill  and  stole  my  Razprs, 
&c. 


May  2. 


Bill  Nix  and  Henrieta  Stut  was  married  this  morning 
Early  and  Left  for  Rodney  Early  this  morning  on  the 
Steam  Boat  Concordia. 


May  3. 


June  17. 


It  was  to  day  that  I  herd  that  Bill  Nicks  wife  that  ye  he 

married  yesterday  had  been  once  given  to and  he 

made  use  of  her.  This  it  was  Said  was  done  for  a  House 

&  Lot  and  afterwards  he  would  not  give  it So  Seys 

report  Current. 

I  Sent  jack  and  ?Winston  Out  to  Pick  Black  Barrys  to 
day  and  they  came  back  without  any,  Saying  they  Could 


117 


not  find  any.  I  went  out  and  took  Frank  and  Jim  and  my 
William  and  we  got  two  Baskets  quite  full,  Those  we  got 
to  made  a  Cordial  with.  .  .  . 


August  27. 


To  day  there  was  a  tryal  before  Esqr  Potter  and  the 
Parties  were  a  Mr.  Gibson  VS.  the  Daughter  of  Poor  Old 
Sam  Gibson  who  the  world  Knows  to  be  free,  but  during 
the  Inquisition  She  and  her  mother  went  Out  to  Stay 
with  this  Gibson  and  now  he  puts  a  Claim  to  her,  by 
Saying  that  Sam  G.  her  father  belonged  to  his  Father 
and  that  he  had  went  Out  of  the  State  and  was  set  free 
and  returned  to  it  again.  Thus  he  became  the  Property 
of  Said  Gibson  under  Some  old  Law  passed  so  seys 
Potter  in  1807  —  Greate  God,  what  a  Country,  the  Suite 
went  in  favor  of  Gibson. 


1845 


January  8. 


Jim  Ploughed  up  the  Garden  to  day  to  Plant  Oats  in  to 
day. 


March  17. 


Jim  was  Laying  Out  the  Garden  To  day,  I  Took  the 
Children  to  the  Animal  Show  to  night.  I  paid  for  the 
following  Children,  My  William,  Richard,  Byron.  Anna 
Anderson,  Mcs  William  &  Robert,  and  Elen  and  Mary 
Jordan,  &c. 


July  3. 


I  was  down  near  the  Waltern  Lake  when  it  I  rain] 
Commenced.  Myself  &  Jack  got  very  wet.  We  Left  Our 
Guns  at  Mrs  Walterns  Place,  with  Mr.  Nickolson  the 
Overseer. 


July  5. 


It  was  to  day  that  the  Deed  of  Trust  Sale  took  Place  and 
I  Bot  13  head  of  Cattle  and  2  Horses  and  the  woman 
Peggy. 


1846 


June  24. 


June  26. 


Julv  1. 


Julv  6. 


Old  Jones  sent  his  woman  up  to  Cincinnatti  &  Children 
too.  Nancy  Kyle  (free  black)  went  also. 

I  left  town  this  Evening.  Took  Jack  &  Robert  &  Sam 
with  me.  This  is  to  see  my  Corn  and  things  all  put  away 
in  good  order.  .  .  .  Georg  Smith  is  accused  of  trying  to 
kill  a  man  to  day  or  something  —  and  has  wran  away. 

I  paid  Winston  Eighty  Seven  dollars  and  a  Half  for 
seven  months  wages,  and  Gave  him  as  a  present  $10, 
i.e.,  to  get  him  cloathes  with  it. 

I  Flogged  Zora  this  morning  for  neglect  &c. 


118 


August  13.  Jeff  went  in  the  Swamp  to  day  to  See  how  the  Corn  Crib 

Comes  on.  .  .  . 

September  4.  I  whiped  old  Anderson  this  Evening  for  Striking  a  Little 

Boy  in  the  Head  with  a  Brick  Bat.  I  gave  him  5  Lashes 
for  it. 

September  8.  I  Stopd  at  Mr  Mosbeys  untill  Late  talking  about  Land 

and  we  did  not  trade  at  Least.  Some  one  Stole  his  skifft 
while  we  were  talking  on  the  Galery.  It  was  Jacky  that 
Broke  Jail  I  expect. 


Using  the  Johnson  diary  as  a  guide  into  the  black  world  of  Natchez,  several  points  deserve 
attention.  The  first  has  to  do  with  Johnson  himself.  Although  we  cannot  be  absolutely 
certain,  the  white  community  appears  to  have  tolerated  Johnson  in  ways  experienced  by 
no  other  black  person  in  the  community.  The  question,  of  course,  is  why?  We  know  from 
the  unexcerpted  portions  of  his  diary  that  Johnson  loaned  money  to  whites,  hunted  with 
them,  bantered  and  gossiped  with  his  white  customers  in  his  shop,  and  was  generally 
accepted  by  whites  at  every  level  of  the  social  structure.  Even  when  there  were  efforts  to 
expel  free  blacks  from  the  state,  Johnson  observed  the  "Inquisition"  with  a  certain 
detachment  —  as  if  the  matter  never  really  affected  him.  He  only  once  alludes  to  his  own 
situation  when  he  noted  that  one  of  the  local  nabob  had  offered  to  help  him  if  needed.  But 
there  is  no  mention  in  the  diary  about  procuring  a  license  or  of  any  efforts  made  by  him 
to  obtain  the  endorsement  of  leading  white  citizens  at  a  time  when  the  law  required  all 
free  blacks  to  petition  the  legislature  for  permission  to  remain  in  the  state.205 

Perhaps  Johnson  had  simply  refused  to  commit  to  paper  his  personal  involvement  in  so 
trying  a  circumstance  of  life.  Or  perhaps  the  "Inquisition"  never  applied  to  him.  Others  — 
including  his  own  free  black  employees  —  had  to  scurry  around  the  countryside  begging 
for  the  endorsements  of  prominent  whites  in  support  of  their  petitions  to  remain  in 
Natchez.  If  Johnson  was  forced  to  do  the  same,  he  never  mentioned  it  in  his  diary.  Instead, 
one  has  the  impression  that  such  endorsements  were  a  foregone  conclusion  in  his  case  or 
else  that  Johnson  had  not  been  required  to  undertake  a  petition.  In  either  case,  the 
obvious  question  is  Why?  What  had  enabled  Johnson  to  live  so  above  the  fray?206 

A  complete  answer  awaits  further  investigation  of  the  Johnson  manuscripts  and  related 
materials,  but  some  conclusions  can  be  made  on  the  basis  of  the  Johnson  diary  itself. 


205.  The  appropriate  entry  is  for  September  3,  1841:  "Maj  J.  Shields,  One  of  Our  noble.  Generous  and 
Gentlemanly  young  men  came  to  me  and  said  if  I  wanted  any  assistance  or  if  he  could  do  anything  for  me  to 
Let  him  Know.  I  promised  to  do  so  —  Such  men  as  he  is,  is  an  ornament  of  Society  —  ...."William  Johnson's 
Natchez,  Vol.1.,  pp.  344. 

206.  Ibid.,  p.  343.  August  24,  1841.  "Lotts  of  F.P.C.  are  running  around  Town  with  Petitions  to  have  the 
Privilege  of  ramafinling  in  the  state,  tis  Laug[h]able  almost,  Wellington  was  out  into  the  Country  this  Evening 
to  have  his  Petition  signed  and  he  got  the  following  gentlemen  on  his  Paper  —  Dr.  Steven  Duncan  &  Col.  A.L. 
Bingaman,  Dr.  Calhoun,  Col.  Wilkins,  Mr.  R.C.  Evans,  Mr.  J.  Routh,  Mr.  S.D.  Elliotte  —  Those  Names  are 
an  Ornament  to  Any  Paper  —  Those  are  Gentlemen  of  the  1st  Order  of  Talents  and  Standing. 

119 


Numerous  references  appear  in  the  diary  (in  portions  unextracted  above)  to  Johnson 
loaning  money  to  whites  in  Natchez.  This  would  seem  at  first  glance  to  partly  explain  his 
protected  role  in  the  community,  until  it  is  realized  just  how  petty  were  the  sums  involved. 
Johnson  was  not  an  important  provider  of  funds  to  the  Natchez  white  community  in  ways 
that  protected  him.  Rather,  Johnson  was  a  source  of  momentary  fiscal  convenience  for  a 
few,  select  whites  and  blacks  simply  because  he  handled  cash  and  could  easily 
accommodate  customers  and  friends  with  petty  sums  in  a  day  and  age  prior  to  the 
existence  of  a  national  currency  or  small  denominations  of  exchange.  This  is  not  to  say 
that  the  white  community  was  unappreciative  of  Johnson's  occasional  money-lending,  but 
what  he  did  was  more  in  keeping  with  the  standard  role  played  by  small-town  barbers  in 
general  than  with  any  special  role  that  set  him  apart.  Indeed,  had  Johnson  played  a  more 
substantial  role  as  a  money-lender,  it  would  have  placed  him  in  a  dangerous  position  for 
a  black  man  in  that  day  and  age  —  one  subjecting  him  to  the  resentment  of  those  indebted 
to  him. 

More  important  in  explaining  Johnson's  protected  position  was  the  fact  that  his  barbering 
service  involved  him,  personally,  with  white  people  from  all  walks  of  life.  Johnson  operated 
uptown  shops  in  which  he  shaved  the  faces  of  visiting  patriarchs  as  well  as  an  Under-the- 
Hill  establishment  servicing  the  rowdiest  of  clientele.  His  Main  Street  shop  barbered 
lawyers,  doctors,  planters,  and  the  most  refined  visitors  to  the  town  while  his  Under-the- 
Hill  enterprise  (staffed  by  faithful  slave  and  free  black  barbers  and  occasionally  by 
Johnson  himself)  handled  the  community's  riff-raft  and  its  unwashed  population  of 
boatmen,  gamblers,  and  dandies. 

In  similar  vein,  and  perhaps  more  importantly,  there  appear  among  the  entries  in 
Johnson's  diary  several  references  to  his  regular  servicing  of  local  militia  groups:  the 
Natchez  Fencibles,  The  Natchez  Guards,  and  the  Vicksburg  Volunteers.  Johnson  rented 
meeting  rooms  to  them,  barbered  and  bathed  them,  attended  their  parades,  and.  on  at 
least  one  occasion,  sent  his  barbers  along  on  troop  maneuvers.207  The  very  rank-and-file 
of  the  town's  non-patriarchal  class,  from  whom  most  free  blacks  had  the  most  to  fear, 
related  to  Johnson  as  though  he  were,  in  a  sense,  a  personal  body  servant  to  them  all.20 

Johnson  had  another  significant  advantage  not  available  to  the  average  free  black  in 
Natchez.  As  the  owner  of  slaves,  he  shared  with  the  local  militia,  and  all  whites  in  the 
region,  the  task  of  disciplining  his  own  and  all  other  slaves  in  the  community.  A  careful 
reading  of  the  diary  excerpts  leaves  little  doubt  but  that  Johnson  used  those  local 
institutions  designed  to  keep  all  slaves  in  line  to  keep  his  own  slaves  in  line.  Johnson 
showed  little  hesitation  in  having  the  local  patrol  whip  his  slaves  or  in  resorting  to  the 
town  jail  and  chain  gangs  when  he  thought  them  necessary.  Similar  to  most  other  slave 
masters,  Johnson  used  the  newspapers  to  advertise  rewards  for  his  runaways,  employing, 
at  the  same  time,  the  system  of  slave  passes  in  accordance  with  the  customs  of  the  local 


207.  Ibid.,  April  22,  1836.    "The  Fencibles  Came  by  quantities  to  get  shave  and  Bathed.  ...fifteen  or  sixteen 
Volunteers  from  Vicksburg  Bathed  here  to  day  — " 

April  26.   1836.     "To  day  I  made  Out  account  against  the  Natchez  Fencibles  or  moneys  due  me  from 
Vicksburg  Volunteers.    It  was  $10." 

208.  Sydnor.  Slavery,  pp.  78.    Every  able-bodied  white  male  eligible  for  militia  duty  was  also  subject  to 
service  int  he  slave  patrols,  usually  serving  one  night  every  two  or  three  weeks. 

120 


white  community.  As  a  result  of  his  conformity  to  the  letter  and  custom  of  slave  control, 
Johnson  was  himself  able  to  walk  more  freely  among  a  white  citizenry  who  might 
otherwise  have  regarded  him  with  suspicion  and  even  hatred.209 

Johnson  also  walked,  as  a  "free  man  of  color,"  within  a  barely  visible  Natchez  sub- 
community  composed  of  white  males,  black  mistresses,  mulatto  children,  and  those 
manumitted  blacks,  like  Johnson,  who  helped  hold  the  community  together.  One  sees  a 
glimpse  of  this  silent  community  partly  in  the  close  friendship  of  barbers  McCary  and 
Johnson  —  in  their  long  evening  strolls  and  mutual  conviviality.  But  one  sees  it  even  more 
in  the  way  in  which  the  Bingamans  and  Hoggatts  and  Barlands  of  Natchez  (white  planters 
who  had  fathered  mulatto  children  and  rather  openly  loved  black  women)  entrusted  their 
mulatto  children  to  the  Johnsons  and  McCarys  to  be  trained  in  skills  appropriate  to  "free 
people  of  color"  in  a  world  in  which  most  blacks  were  slaves.  Although  this  is  not  the  place 
to  spell  it  out  in  detail,  there  are  simply  too  many  indications  of  a  dependency  and 
empathy  between  the  free  mulattoes  of  Natchez  and  the  white  men  who  had  sired  them 
not  to  see  the  outlines  of  a  viable  sub-community  at  work.  And  Johnson  stood  at  its  very 
core.210 

Like  many  of  his  white  benefactors,  Johnson  related  to  his  slaves  as  though  they  were 
members  of  his  own  family.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Johnson  shed  real  tears  in  selling 
one  of  his  most  recalcitrant  slaves,  Steven,  after  years  of  trying  to  figure  out  what  to  do 
with  him.  Nor  can  the  numerous  floggings  that  Johnson  so  quickly  administered  be 
casually  evaluated  as  but  the  actions  of  a  hard-hearted  master  in  light  of  the  fact  that  he 
once  took  a  whip  to  his  own  mother,  whom  he  loved.  The  same  slaves  and  employees  - 
whom  he  beat,  chained,  and  confined  to  corn  cribs  and  jails  were  also  his  hunting 
companions.  He  worked  side-by-side  in  manual  labor  on  his  swamp  farm  with  the  same 
men  he  whipped  and  punished.  He  could  lay  on  "five  strokes"  to  his  old  men  and  women 
slaves,  several  "cuts"  at  a  flash,  and  "mailings"  with  a  stick  in  confidence  that  the 
whippings  were  for  the  good  of  the  slaves  beaten.  But  one  gets  the  sense  from  reading  his 
diary  that  Johnson  used  the  whip  rather  gently  in  most  cases.  Indeed,  he  often  referred 
to  the  type  of  whippings  given  as  "genteel."  One  wonders  if  Johnson's  bark  was  not  worse 
than  his  blows  —  else  how  could  the  slave  Steven  have  taken  them  so  frequently  with 
such  little  effect?  For  every  flogging  mentioned  in  the  diary,  moreover,  there  are  also 
references  to  circuses,  darky  balls,  hunting  trips,  fishing  parties,  and  assorted  goings-on 
which  Johnson  tolerated  and  often  encouraged.  And   most  revealing  of  his  complex 


209.  Ibid.,  p.  776-79. 

210.  Perhaps  it  was  Johnson's  functionality  (to  use  sociology  jargon!  as  a  free  black  able  to  help  his  white, 
patriarchal  and  back-loving  friends  that  explains  his  relative  security  in  life.  What  other  reason  would  have 
kept  him  in  Natchez  for  all  those  years  but  the  centrality  of  his  role  among  the  type  of  people  who  had  sired 
him?  In  this  sense,  the  marginal  Johnson  —  marginal  when  seen  in  the  context  of  all  free  blacks  in  the  larger 
society  —  stood  at  the  very  core  of  a  world  within  a  world.  And  within  this  community,  William  Johnson  was 
an  indispensable  man.  See  William  Johnson's  Natchez,  pp.  330-338.  May  4,  1841.  "To  Day  I  went  up  to 
McCarys  Shop  and  Told  Him  that  I  had  two  Little  boys  and  was  requested  by  Mr.  Hogatt  to  get  situations  for 
them  to  Learn  a  trade  of  some  Kind  —  He  wanted  One  of  them  and  Gave  Him  Choice  of  the  two,  Jefferson 
and  William." 

June  6,  1841.  "Pheebe,  the  mother  of  William  &  Jeff,  Children  of  Mr.  Wilford  Hogatt,  Came  in 
together  with  Emeline  &  Misouri  and  Little  January  Hoggat  —  they  remained  until  after  dinner  and  then  Left 
Leaving  Misouri  and  January  to  stay  in  town  —  The  Boy  is  to  stay  with  the  girl  as  Company  for  Her,  for  a 
few  Days..." 

121 


temperament  are  the  several  diary  entries  wherein  Johnson  mentioned  his  efforts  at 
teaching  his  slaves  to  read  and  to  write  —  confining  them  in  their  rooms  at  their  books 
until  they  had  learned  their  lessons.  Johnson,  clearly,  was  no  ordinary  slave  master.211 

In  addition  to  insights  regarding  Johnson,  the  diary  —  when  assessed  along  with  other 
sources  —  tells  us  much  about  the  instruments  used  by  the  white  community  to  discipline 
and  control  its  black  population.  All  blacks  within  the  district  were  subject  to  being 
questioned  and  detained  by  any  white  person  at  any  time.  This  meant  that  all  blacks  out- 
and-about  were  required  to  have  written  passes  giving  them  permission  to  be  afoot.  Those 
caught  without  passes  were  subject  to  detention  and  floggings.  (One  reason,  in  fact,  why 
slaveholders  opposed  literacy  in  slaves  had  to  do  with  the  threat  to  the  system  presented 
by  forged  papers.)  The  city  jail  on  State  Street  was  the  usual  place  of  confinement  for 
runaway  and  picked-up  slaves,  and  masters  were  expected  to  pay  the  costs  of  the  slave's 
temporary  imprisonment.  In  addition,  any  white  person  grabbing  an  undocumented  slave 
could  expect  a  small  reward  for  his  trouble. 

Also,  a  regular  nightwatch  operated  in  the  town  of  Natchez  as  well  as  patrols  in  the 
countryside.  Able-bodied  men  were  expected  to  serve  in  the  patrols  and  usually  received 
fees  for  their  time  on  watch.  Although  it  is  not  clear  at  this  writing  just  how  well 
organized  and  staffed  were  the  country  patrols  in  the  district,  their  duties  ranged  from 
general  policing  to  keeping  a  sharp  eye  for  runaways  and  arsonists  —  the  most  common 
fear  of  all  property  owners,  free  blacks  and  whites  alike.212 

Proper  methods  of  slave  discipline  in  and  around  town,  meaning  those  acceptable  in  the 
eyes  of  the  white  community,  included  verbal  rebukes,  a  few  "cuts"  with  a  stick  or  riding 
whip,  kicks  to  the  body,  boxing  of  ears,  and  confinement  in  corn  cribs  or  tool  sheds.  On  the 
remote  plantations,  overseers  were  expected  to  carry  out  whippings  and  stern  measures 
if  needed.  But  town  slaves  were  frequently  turned  over  to  the  local  sheriff  or  the  night 
patrol  for  the  administration  of  proscribed  whippings  —  usually  no  more  than  thirty-nine 
lashes.  On  the  outlying  plantations  whippings  could  frequently  get  out  of  control  and  the 
white  masters  and  overseers  might  find  themselves  occasionally  hauled  into  court  for  slave 
abuse  —  especially  if  the  abused  slave  belonged  to  someone  other  than  the  perpetrator  of 
the  abuse. 

Besides  punishment  by  floggings,  Natchez  jail  authorities  kept  segregated  chain  gangs  of 
slave  and  white  criminals  that  worked  at  heavy  manual  labor  ranging  from  street  repairs 
to  ditching  and  bridge  construction.  Slaves  accused  of  serious  crimes  were  locked  away  in 
windowless  cells  in  the  jail  across  from  the  courthouse  on  State  Street  to  await  trials  that 
would  result  in  death  or,  if  acquitted,  the  freedom  to  return  to  slavery.213 

Just  how  frequently  masters  whipped  their  slaves  is  unclear,  but  it  was  probably  a 
common  practice  on  most  plantations  and  slave  households.  Scholars  of  slave  whippings 
have  argued  that  they  happened  often  enough  on  a  large  plantation  to  be  a  common 


211.  See  the  extracted  portions  of  Johnson's  diary  listed  above. 

212.  Ibid..  Sydnor.  Slavery,  pp.  67-130. 

213.  Ibid. 

122 


feature  of  slave  life  —  meaning  that  the  typical  slave  was  whipped,  or  else  witnessed  other 
slaves  being  whipped,  on  a  regular  basis.  What  is  especially  confusing  about  the  issue  of 
slave  whippings  is  that  most  slaveholders  differentiated  in  their  minds  between  serious 
whippings  (when  they  would  bare  the  backs  of  slaves  and  administer  anywhere  from 
twenty  to  several  hundred  lashes  in  a  beating  witnessed  by  the  entire  slave  population  on 
the  place)  and  the  constant  and  commonplace  blows  administered  for  minor  offenses. 
Johnson,  for  example,  gave  approximately  two  dozen  whippings  over  a  ten-year  period. 
When  presented  in  a  running  line,  the  whippings  appear  to  have  been  more  frequent  than 
they  actually  were.  Only  rarely  did  Johnson  resort  to  having  his  slaves  brutalized  by  the 
town  guard.  After  Johnson  sold  his  rebellious  slave,  Steven,  he  seldom  noted  whippings 
in  his  diary."14 

Five  quite  disparate  pieces  of  impressionistic  evidence,  drawn  from  varied  sources,  tell  us 
much  about  the  pervasive  atmosphere  of  brutality  that  surrounded  all  blacks  in  the 
Natchez  district.  The  first  is  taken  from  the  journal  of  Natchez  district  planter  William 
Dunbar,  dated  November  12,  1777.  It  reads: 

On  Sunday  last  Adam  was  found  to  be  drunk  upon  wh  fwhichl  I  ordered 
him  to  be  confined  in  the  Bastile  Ordered  him  500  lashes  next  day,  in  order 
to  draw  a  Confession  from  him  how  he  came  by  the  Rum  —  which  had  the 
desired  effect,  he  acknowledge  having  secreted  a  Key  when  he  was  Cook,  by 
which  he  got  Entrance  to  the  store  on  the  Low  Land,  &  stole  rum  —  ordered 
a  large  Chain  to  be  fixt  to  his  leg,  which  he  has  carried  until  today;  had  it 
taken  off,  his  leg  being  swelled,  as  I  intend  carrying  him  up  to  Point 
Coupee,  where  I  shall  sell  him  if  I  find  an  opportunity. 

That  Dunbar  never  actually  applied  the  500  lashes  alters  in  no  way  the  fact  that  the 
unfortunate  Adam  fully  believed  his  master  capable  of  administering  them.215 

The  second  piece  of  evidence  is  an  entry  in  Johnson's  diary  for  January  14,  1836. 

The  Gard  took  Nancy  Latimore  and  Cut  her  all  over  her  Back,  whiped  her 
very  much.  She  went  through  the  Market  the  next  morning  with  her  clothes 
hanging  all  off  of  each  shoulder.  Her  back  was  very  much  whipped.  It  was 
thought  Dr.  Lattimore  make  her  walk  in  the  streets  that  way. 

The  woman  was  a  free  woman  of  color  once  owned  by  Dr.  Lattimore,  yet  still  subject  — 
even  though  she  was  free  —  to  the  most  horrible  of  whippings  and  public  humiliation.  On 
the  basis  of  the  sources  available,  the  reason  for  her  brutal  punishment  is  unknown.21 


214.  Ibid.,  see  also  Boles,  Black  Southerners,  p.  81,  for  a  succinct  statement  on  the  controversy  of  slave 
punishment  on  the  plantation. 

215.  Diary  of  William  Dunbar,  November  12,  1777,  as  published  in  Dunbar  Rowland.  Life.  Letter,  and  Papers 
of  William  Dunbar  (Jackson,  Miss.,  1930). 

216.  See  Johnson's  Natchez,  p.  93. 

123 


Thirdly,  a  notice  appeared  in  the  Natchez  Weekly  Courier  of  September  15,  1858,  entitled 
"Fellow  Citizens."  Written  by  a  Mr.  R.  Parker,  the  piece  was  designed  to  quell  the  rumors 
that  Parker  had  beaten  one  of  his  slaves  to  death.  The  controversy  had  arisen  because 
Parker's  slave,  a  woman  named  Georgiana,  was  found  dead  under  a  house  in  Natchez.  An 
inquest  had  followed  wherein  Parker  admitted  to  whipping  the  woman  but  not  so  severely 
as  to  having  caused  her  death.  Although  a  doctor's  investigation  of  the  decomposed  body 
supported  Parker's  testimony,  the  rumors  continued  seemingly  unabated.    ' 

Fourthly,  there  appeared  in  the  Mississippi  Free-Trader,  June  2,  1847,  an  advertisement 
for  a  runaway  slave  owned  by  Mr.  B.  Zenor.  The  advertisement  described  a  young  man 
about  twenty-five-years-old,  5  feet  7  inches  in  height,  of  spare  build,  who  was  called 
Archibald.  In  some  detail,  the  notice  stated  the  slave's  place  of  birth,  on  a  plantation  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  nearby  town  of  Washington.  But  what  makes  this  notice  significant  for 
our  purposes  is  its  description  of  a  "back"  that  had  been  "whipped  and  seared."  It  would 
take  but  little  imagination  to  understand  what  the  unfortunate  slave  Archibald  had 
suffered  prior  to  his  flight.21 

And  finally,  although  such  impressionistic  evidence  could  go  on  and  on,  there  is  an  entry 
in  Johnson's  diary  for  February  23,  1847,  that  speaks  of  how  local  troublemakers  were 
routinely  handled:219 

Several  Girls  that  was  in  a  fight  yesterday  was  whiped  to  day.  The[y]  got 
fifteen  Lashes  Each.  Three  of  them,  the  Gibson  girl  and  Betty  Dumat  and 
a  Girl  of  Mrs.  LaCrose.  Thorn  Rose  &  L.  David  was  on  the  Jury. 

Whether  or  not  every  Natchez  slave  experienced  a  whipping  at  some  time  in  their  lives, 
similar  evidence  to  the  above  leaves  the  clear  impression  that  such  whippings  were  a 
common,  almost  daily,  occurrence  in  and  around  Natchez  during  the  antebellum  years. 
That  slaves  were  flogged  so  frequently,  however,  suggests  just  how  limited  was  a  flogging's 
effectiveness  in  keeping  the  slaves  in  line.  One  gets  the  sense  in  reading  the  manuscript 
accounts  of  the  beatings  that  they  did  little  or  no  good  at  all.  Indeed,  Johnson,  for  one, 
seemed  to  grow  weary  of  administering  them. 

Perhaps  more  effective  in  curbing  rebelliousness  than  whippings  and  slave  patrols  was  the 
threat  of  selling  slave  troublemakers,  the  soothing  effect  of  slaveholder  paternalism,  the 
exercise  of  outright  random  terror,  and  the  ability  of  Natchez  district  slaves  to  live  largely 
out-of-sight  of  the  white  community.  When  taken  together,  these  aspects  of  slave  control 
produced  a  complex  arena  wherein  whites  and  blacks  played  off  their  antagonisms  toward 
one  another. 


217.  Natchez  Weekly  Courier,  September  12.  1858. 

218.  Mississippi  Free-Trader,  June  2,  1847. 

219.  Johnson's  Natchez,  p.  558. 

124 


THE  SLAVE  FAMILY  AS  A  MECHANISM  OF  SOCIAL  CONTROL 

Looking  first  at  the  threat  of  selling  troublesome  slaves,  it  is  crucial  to  understand  that 
(his  method  of  discipline  and  social  control  was  directly  related  to  the  strength  of  the  slave 
family.  Table  4  in  Chapter  II  suggests  that  nearly  60%  of  all  slaves  in  Concordia  Parish 
lived  in  cabins  that  seem  to  have  been  family  households.  And  while  slave  marriages  were 
never  legalized,  they  were  recognized  in  some  few  cases  by  planters  and  local  church 
officials.  Regardless,  however,  of  the  official  legitimacy  of  their  bonding,  slaves  married 
and  lived  with  one  another  as  parents  and  children.  What  this  means,  ironically,  is  that 
slaveholders  could  discipline  their  chattel  by  threatening  to  put  wives,  children,  and 
fathers  on  the  auction  block. 

But  selling  slaves  was  not  always  an  easy  step  to  take.  An  entry  in  Johnson's  diary  for 
September  4,  1843,  alludes  to  the  confession  of  a  slave  to  stealing.22  "Mr.  Knight  has 
his  Boy  Lenson  [Hensonl  whipped  and  he  Confessed  to  have  been  stealing  for  some  time 
from  him.  .  .  ."  The  Mr.  Knight  in  question  was  Natchez  merchant  and  planter  John 
Knight,  a  man  uneasy  with  the  idea  of  unloading  troublesome  slaves  on  unsuspecting 
planters: 

As  to  selling  Francis  in  Louisiana,  it  cannot  be  done  without  my  guaranting 
that  she  has  committed  no  crimes.  And  I  will  not  sell  her  here  to  any 
acquaintance  .  .  .  without  naming  the  fact  of  her  having  recently  been  guilty 
of  the  crime  for  which  she  was  expelled  from  your  state.221 

A  one-sided  version  of  the  Henson  story  was  told  by  Knight  in  several  letters  written  to 
his  father-in-law  who  lived  in  Maryland.  Knight  had  used  Henson  and  his  wife  as  clerks 
in  his  store  in  Natchez  in  the  early  1840s.  By  early  summer  of  1843,  Knight  was  beginning 
to  have  second  thoughts  about  the  arrangement: 

Intending  positively,  to  sell  Henson  and  his  family  next  winter,  if  possible. 
.  .  .  Henson  suits  me  in  most  aspect  better  than  I  expect  any  other  boy  I  can 
get,  but  he  has  contracted  the  habits  of  lying,  drinking  somewhat  &  being 
impudent  and  rather  unmanageable  when  I  am  about.  And  if  I  sell  him,  of 
course,  I  will  sell  his  wife  and  children  also:  for  I  will  not  separate  them. 
Nor  will  I  sell  them  to  a  bad  master  on  a  bad  place.222 

Several  months  later,  Knight's  worst  fears  were  confirmed  when  Henson  confessed  to 
having  looted  and  sold  great  quantities  of  corn,  oats,  hay,  general  store  goods,  saddles,  and 
guns.  According  to  Knight,  Henson  had  enlisted  a  gang  of  slaves,  free  blacks,  and 
competing  white  merchants  to  distribute  several  thousand  dollars  in  stolen  property.  Now, 
having  caught  them,  what  was  Knight  to  do  with  his  thieving  slaves? 


220.  Ibid.,  p,  443. 

221.  John  Knight  to  William  M.  Beall,  March  15,  1844,  William  Knight  Papers,  DU 

222.  Ibid.,  June  6,  1843. 

125 


During  the  last  week  I  have  kept  Henson  and  his  wife  confined  & 
handcuffed.  This  morning  I  sold  and  delivered  them  &  their  three  children 

to  a  good  man,  with  whom  they  will  have  a  far  better ,  if  they  behave 

properly,  than  they  deserve.  They  will  pass  the  balance  of  their  days  on  a 
cotton  plantation  with  plenty  of  hard  work,  under  a  tight  but  just  overseer. 
...  I  will  never  trust  another  Negro  out  of  sight  in  any  thing.  .  .  .223 

Though  difficult  for  some  planters  to  carry  off,  there  can  be  no  question  but  that  black 
families  knew  how  serious  was  the  threat  of  sale.  Perhaps  that  is  why  they  tolerated 
slavery,  because  they  had  too  much  to  lose  —  their  very  families  —  by  directly  challenging 
it.  As  a  result,  the  slaves  had  to  struggle  with  the  system  in  ways  that  hid  their  intentions 
from  view.  Slaves  fought  back  by  feigning  irresponsibility,  by  acting  lazy,  by  work  slow- 
downs, by  getting  sick,  by  making  mistakes,  and  by  countless  acts  of  what  amounted  to 
worker  sabotage.  Few  would  resist  to  the  point  of  not  doing  assigned  tasks,  but  few  would 
do  the  tasks  with  great  enthusiasm  or  efficiency.  If  they  could  be  late  for  work,  they  would 
be  late  for  work.  If  they  could  get  lost  on  errands,  they  would  get  lost  on  errands.  But 
seldom  would  they  lift  their  hands  or  raise  their  voices  in  anger.  Too  much  was  at  stake 
to  risk  retributions  that  could  easily  go  beyond  whippings  and  brandings  —  children  and 
wives  and  parents  might  be  sold  in  retaliation  for  overt  resistance  to  the  system. 


PATERNALISM 

Equally  important  in  explaining  how  and  why  the  system  functioned  as  it  did  was  the 
sense  of  family  (whites  and  blacks  together)  that  permeated  most  estate  households  and 
plantations.  Confronted  as  they  were  by  enslaved  human  beings  who  were  difficult  to 
control  by  beatings  and  threats,  and  because  they  lived  in  the  same  households  as  their 
slaves,  slaveholders  used  kindness,  consideration,  affection,  and  sympathy  to  achieve 
faithful  behavior  from  their  slaves.  And  for  most  slaveholders,  faithful  service  was  even 
more  important  to  them  than  effective  service.  Indeed,  faithful  service  meant  that  a  slave 
would  at  least  follow  orders,  take  directions,  and  work  with  a  minimum  amount  of 
supervision.  The  slaves  might  not  work  with  diligence  and  painstaking  skill,  but  to  have 
them  fetch-and-carry  and  cook  and  wash  without  grumbling,  to  have  them  work  lively 
under  the  threat  of  the  whip,  and  to  have  them  hoe  and  plough  with  perseverance  if  not 
with  enthusiasm  was  about  all  the  system  required  of  its  enslaved  chattel. 

In  pursuit  of  faithful  labor,  planters  showered  gifts  on  their  slaves  at  Christmas,  nursed 
household  servants  in  sickness,  observed  slave  birthdays  and  weddings,  fawned  over 
devoted  retainers,  intervened  on  the  slave's  behalf  with  overseers  and  town  officials,  and 
looked  the  other  way  in  the  face  of  countless  little  indiscretions  that  non-slaveholders 
would  have  considered  acts  of  impudence  on  the  part  of  hired  servants.  Most  importantly, 
slaveholders  tried  to  establish  ties  of  affection  and  membership  between  the  slave  servants 
of  the  household  and  the  white  members  of  his  family.  When  the  system  worked,  the 
domestic  slaves  lived  as  dependent  members  of  the  master's  family.  Several  examples  from 
among  many  should  suffice  to  illustrate  the  point. 


223.     August  29.  1843. 

126 


On  May  12,  1844,  Elizabeth  Quitman,  mistress  of  Monmouth  plantation,  wrote  her 
husband,  John,  of  an  occurrence  at  neighboring  Melrose  that  spoke  of  a  common  event 
among  the  estate  households  of  Natchez.  McMurran,  who  was  Quitman's  law  partner,  had 
barely  finished  the  construction  of  Melrose  when  one  of  the  family's  more  devoted  slaves 
passed  away.  Elizabeth  Quitman  wrote:  "The  McMurrans  have  lost  their  servant  girl 
Laura.  She  died  on  tuesday  last  and  was  buried  at  Melrose.  Did  you  know  that  McM  had 
a  grave  yard  already  proposed  and  planted  with  Evergreens  out  there?"224 

Although  it  is  not  clear  from  this  brief  note  whether  the  graveyard  was  a  slave  cemetery 
or  the  McMurran  family  plot,  it  is  likely  —  in  view  of  its  landscaping  —  that  the  site  was 
a  family  cemetery,  and  that  Laura  was  the  very  first  member  of  the  McMurran  "family" 
to  be  buried  there.  Elizabeth  Quitman  noted  the  event  not  because  it  was  unusual  to  have 
slaves  so  interred  in  family  plots,  but  because  her  husband  obviously  knew  of  the 
McMurran  family's  affection  for  Laura.  Also,  Elizabeth  was  surprised  that  the  McMurrans 
had  a  graveyard  already  prepared  and  ready  for  use. 

Twelve  years  later,  Mary  McMurran  informed  her  cousin,  Elizabeth  Quitman,  of  a  Melrose 
wedding  party  attended  by  the  servants  of  both  households.  "A  portion  of  the  servants 
were  here  a  few  evenings  since,  to  attend  the  wedding  of  Patrick  and  Mimi.  Viola  was 
bridesmaid.  They  married  in  our  presence,  behaved  with  perfect  propriety,  and  they  all 
seemed  very  merry  and  happy  over  their  games  and  supper  afterwards."225 

One  has  to  be  careful  in  reading  too  much  into  such  incidents  of  paternalism  as  the 
Melrose  weddings  and  burials  described  above.  There  is  no  way  of  knowing  just  what  the 
slaves  thought  about  them  because  much  of  the  evidence  comes  to  us  from  the 
slaveholders'  perspective.  Clearly,  most  slaveholders  believed  that  treating  some  slaves 
like  members  of  the  family  was  action  well  taken.  The  response  by  slaves  was  undoubtedly 
positive  and  encouraging  enough  to  keep  their  masters  busy  with  countless  little 
considerations  toward  their  slaves  that  acted  as  a  lubricant  of  sorts  in  an  otherwise  highly 
abrasive  world. 

Along  with  weddings,  burials,  birthdays,  gifts,  and  personal  touches  too  many  to 
document,  some  planters  also  tried  to  care  for  the  souls  of  their  slaves  by  allowing  and 
encouraging  enslaved  and  free  blacks  to  participate  in  the  services  of  various  established 
churches  in  and  around  Natchez.  Again,  the  question  of  the  slave's  religion  is  fraught  with 
ambiguities  and  easily  misinterpreted  signals.  What  we  know  is  this:  five  churches  (four 
Protestant  and  one  Catholic)  were  established  in  Natchez  in  the  decades  before  the  Civil 
War  to  minister  to  the  white  residents  of  the  town.  All  of  them  included  African-Americans 
among  their  congregations.226 


224.  Elizabeth  Quitman  to  John  Quitman,  May  12,  1844,  Quitman  Family  Papers,  Southern  Historical 
Collection.  University  of  North  Carolina,  Chapel  Hill,  N.C. 

225.  Ibid.,  Mary  Quitman  to  Elizabeth  Quitman,  August  11,  1856. 

226.  Sources  for  insight  on  religion  in  Mississippi  include  J.  Julian  Chisolm,  History  of  The  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Natchez.  Mississippi  (Natchez,  Miss.,  1972);  R.O.  Gerow,  Cradle  Days  of  St.  Mary's  at  Natchez 
(Natchez,  Miss..  1941);  The  History  of  Pine  Ridge  Presbyterian  Church;  (Natchez,  Miss.,  publication  date 
unknown),  pp.  9-11;  James  Pillar,  "Religious  and  Cultural  Life  in  Mississippi,  1817-1860,"  in  Richard  Aubrey 
McLemore.  (ed.),  A  History  of  Mississippi  (Hattiesburg,  Miss.,  1973),  pp.  378-419; 

127 


The  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Natchez,  located  across  from  the  courthouse,  enrolled 
its  first  "colored"  member  in  1824,  added  a  "colored  gallery"  to  the  inside  of  its  main 
building  in  1838,  and  numbered  its  black  participants  at  nineteen  in  1851.  The  Church's 
Pastor  for  much  of  the  antebellum  era,  John  Stratton,  preached  a  special  evening  or 
afternoon  service  for  blacks  nearly  every  Sunday  of  the  1840s  and  1850s.  Stratton  also 
employed  special  associates,  the  Reverend  Colin  McKinney  in  1844  (followed  by  the 
Reverends  Daniel  McNair  and  Joseph  Weeks),  to  minister  to  the  needs  of  his  black  flock. 
The  church  even  built  a  separate  brick  structure  in  1849,  at  Pearl  and  Washington  for  use 
by  its  black  "parishioners."  Later,  probably  because  the  "brick  Chapel"  was  too  close  to  the 
main  church,  Stratton  had  a  hall  constructed  on  St.  Catherine  Street,  nearer  the  Forks-of- 
the-Road,  for  his  black  Presbyterians.  The  black  membership  grew  from  a  small  handful 
in  the  1840s  to  some  fifty-nine  members  in  1860,  out  of  a  total  membership  of  31 1.22 

Trinity  Episcopal  Church  was  founded  in  the  1820s  by  local  planter  elites  uncomfortable 
with  Baptist  and  Methodist  practices.  The  magnificent  structure  at  Washington  and 
Commerce  was  renovated  in  the  late  1830s  in  a  Greek  Revival  style  and  it  came  to  be, 
along  with  St.  Mary's  Cathedral  and  the  First  Presbyterian  building,  a  vibrant  part  of  the 
town's  spiritual  architecture.  According  to  church  records,  black  "servants"  of  white 
members  were,  in  the  1850s,  occasionally  baptized,  confirmed,  and  married  as  members 
of  Trinity.  The  earliest  record  of  black  membership  lists  several  "colored"  marriages  in 
1853,  1854,  and  1855.228 

A  number  of  black  Catholics  in  Natchez  —  ten  to  fourteen  in  all  —  are  found  in  the  Parish 
baptismal  records  for  the  1820s.  More  were  listed  in  earlier  Spanish  records,  mainly  the 
offspring  of  slaves  owned  by  pioneer  Spanish  and  French  settlers  to  the  district.  After  the 
transferral  of  Natchez  to  American  hands,  the  Catholic  Church  lost  ground  to  the  point 
where  there  was  a  time  when  no  priests  were  assigned  to  the  community.  Indeed, 
Catholicism  did  not  secure  a  firm  footing  in  Natchez  until  the  establishment  of  a  Catholic 
Bishopric  in  the  town  in  1841.  With  the  arrival  of  Bishops  John  Chanche  and  Henry  Elder, 
we  see  stepped-up  attention  being  paid  to  the  needs  of  all  Catholics  in  the  area,  including 
blacks.  From  1839  to  1860,  the  Catholic  priests  stationed  at  St.  Mary's  constructed  a 
magnificent  Cathedral  and  baptized  304  blacks  into  the  Catholic  faith.  The  vast  majority 
were  children.229 

It  should  not  be  assumed,  however,  that  such  a  large  number  of  black  baptisms 
represented  an  equivalent  number  of  black  parents  or  large  numbers  of  black  worshippers 
in  the  cathedral  on  Sundays.  Many  of  those  baptized  were  slaves  on  neighboring 
plantations  in  a  diocese  that  spread  from  the  Yazoo  River  to  Point  Coupee,  Louisiana. 
Nearly  60%  of  those  baptized  were  plantation  slaves.  Bishops  Chanche  and  Elder 
frequently  traveled  miles  into  the  country  to  enroll  dozens  of  slaves  in  group  baptismals, 
using  the  slaves'  owners  as  Godfathers.  A  close  reading  of  the  Parish  records  turned  up 


227.  The  Presbyterian  Church  of  Natchez,  pp.  1-53;  The  Diary  of  Joseph  B.  Statton,  Copy  on  File  with  the 
Historic  Natchez  Foundation.  Natchez.  Mississippi. 

228.  Parish  Registry  Books.  Vol.1..  Trinity  Church  Archives.  Natchez,  Mississippi. 

229.  Register  of  Baptisms,  March  20,  1820- June  17.  1821;  March  13.  1828- April  13.  1828;  January  27.  1839 
-  April  25,  1872.  St.  Mary's  Cathedral.  Natchez.  Miss. 

128 


seventeen  plantations  that  were  listed  among  those  wherein  slaves  were  baptized  in  single 
visits.  Very  few  of  these  plantation  blacks  ever  saw  the  inside  of  St.  Mary's  Cathedral  or 
had  much  opportunity  for  local  attendance  at  weekly  Mass  services.  There  is  little 
evidence,  moreover,  of  any  follow-up  administering  of  the  "sacraments"  of  confirmation, 
-.ommunion,  matrimony,  or  burial  to  the  officially  baptized.230 

Most  of  the  black  Catholics  in  town  and  on  nearby  estates  were  the  servants  of  Catholic 
slaveholders  who  undoubtedly  influenced  the  participation  of  their  household  slaves  in  the 
family  faith.  A  cursory  reading  of  the  records  indicates  that  a  significant  number  of  the 
slaves  baptized  were  the  children  of  household  women  servants,  with  no  father  listed  in 
the  accounts.  Occasionally,  the  documents  will  note  a  child's  "illegitimate"  status,  but  most 
often  the  obvious  went  unrecorded.231 

Among  the  baptismal  records  are  those  showing  frequent  sponsorship  and  Godparenting 
of  black  slaves  by  prominent  members  of  a  well  established  French  family:  the  Gireaudeau 
(or  Girodeau)  family  of  Gabriel  and  Felicite.  A  presentation  of  the  Gireaudeau  baptismal 
records  gleaned  from  the  hundreds  listed  in  the  registry  illustrates  several  aspects  of  black 
life  worth  noting:232 

The  underwritten  testifies  to  have  Baptized  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
In  the  city  of  Natchez  on  the  26th  of  March  1820,  A  Negro  girl  belonging  to 
Gabriel  Gireaudeau  to  whom  the  name  of  Sophy  was  given.  She  was  Seven 
years  old  had  for  Godfather  Martial  Pomet  and  for  Godmother  Virginia 
Gireaudeau. 

The  underwritten  testifies  to  have  Baptized  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
in  the  city  of  Natchez  on  the  third  of  June  1820,  Mary  Daughter  of  John 

Z and  Elizabeth,  negro  woman  belonging  to  Gabriel  Gireaudeau;  She 

was  seven  years  old  and  had  for  Godfather,  Martial  Pomet  and  for 
Godmother,  Victoire  Colon. 

The  underwritten  testifies  to  have  Baptized  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
in  the  city  of  Natchez  on  the  third  of  June  1820,  Maria  Louisa,  Daughter 

of  John and  Elizabeth,  Negro  woman  belonging  to  Gabriel  Gireaudeau; 

she  had  for  Godfather  Martial  Pomet  and  for  Godmother  Louisa  Du  Cross. 

The  underwritten  testifies  to  have  Baptized  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
in  the  city  of  Natchez  on  the  third  of  June  1820,  Victoire  Rosalie  Bizou, 
Daughter  of  Narcoss  Bizou  and  Nancy,  Negro  woman  belonging  to  Gabriel 
Gireaudau.  She  had  for  Godfather  Martial  Pomet  and  for  Godmother, 
Victoire  Colon. 


230.  Ibid. 

231.  Ibid. 

232.  Ibid. 

129 


On  the  Thirteenth  Day  of  April  in  the  year  of  1828,  the  undersigned,  pastor 
of  this  church,  have  solomnly  baptized  Angela,  about  eighteen  months  of 
age,  a  slave  of  Mrs.  Gireaudeau.  The  Godfather  has  been  James  Pomet,  the 
Godmother  is  Adele  Gireaudeau. 

The  undersigned,  have  baptized  Adel  ,  born  the  12  June  1836  of  Rosalie 
Bizou  free  woman,  and  of  a  father  unknown:  The  sponsors  were  Joseph 
Pomet  and  Felicite  Girardeau. 

The  undersigned,  have  baptized  Ann,  born  the  24th  January  1839,  servant 
of  Mrs  Girardeau.  The  father  is  unknown:  The  sponsors  were  Joseph  Pomet 
and  Nancy. 

Jan.  16th,  1839. 1  baptized  Theodore,  illegitimate  son  of  Caroline,  Servant 
of  Madame  Gireadeau,  born  Feb.  1st,  1837.  Sponsors,  Joseph  Pomet  & 
Maria  David 

January  30.  I  the  undersigned,  baptized  Mary  Martha  born  about  October 
1832  of  Eliza,  other  particulars  unknown;  the  child  is  servant  of  Felicite 
Girardeau. 

September  26,  1841.  I  baptized  Maria  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Carolina, 
servant  of  Felicite  Girodeau,  born  October  15th,  1840,  Sponsors,  Lucia 
Ludov.  David,  Servants. 

On  13th  of  June,  I  have  baptized  Joseph  Jong,  8  days  old,  natural  child 
of  Barba  Jong.  The  god  mother  was  Felicity  Girodeau. 

April  2,  1849.  Was  baptized,  sub  conditione,  Rachel  servant  of  Mrs 
Girodeau,  aged  50  years,  Sponsors,  myself  and  Sophy  Leeper. 

May  20,  1849.  Was  baptized  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Grignon,  Henry,  son  of  Mary 
Jane,  formerly  a  slave  of  Mrs.  Girodeau.  The  child  was  born  16  of  August 
1848.  Sponsor  Rosalie  Grillo. 

May  20,  1849.  Was  baptized  Francis,  son  of  Mary  Jane,  formerly  a  slave 
of  Mrs.  Girodeau.  The  child  was  born  11  of  June  1845.  Sponsor.  Rosalie 
Grillo. 

I  the  undersigned  hereby  certify  that  on  17th  of  March  1854,  I  baptized 
Eliza,  (colored)  ten  months  old,  daughter  of  Francis  Gusta.  Stood  as  God 
Mother  Caroline  Baptist  I  also  baptized  Thomas  Eugene  (colored),  five 
weeks  old,  son  of  Claiborn  and  Isabella  Norton,  Stood  as  God  mother 
Felicity  Girodeau. 

Fourteen  Gireaudeau  slaves,  female  and  young  household  servants  in  the  main,  were 
baptized  into  the  Catholic  faith  by  Natchez  priests  over  a  range  of  years  from  1820  to 
1854.  In  some  cases,  several  generations  of  children  were  so  anointed:  Rosalie  was 
baptized,  along  with  her  sister  Sophia,  as  a  young  girl  in  1820;  and  she  then  had  her  own 


130 


child  baptized  in  1835.  Rosalie's  and  Sophia's  mother,  and  the  grandmother  of  Rosalie's 
children,  a  Gireaudeau  slave  named  Nancy,  was  herself  the  Godparent  of  another 
Gireaudeau  slave,  Ann,  in  1839.  Sophia  served  as  Godparent  of  an  older  slave  woman, 
Rachel,  in  1849;  her  sister,  Rosalie,  did  the  same  for  a  fellow  slave,  Jane,  that  same  year. 
Two  other  household  slaves,  Lucie  and  David,  were  co-sponsors,  in  1841,  of  the 
"illegitimate"  child  of  slave  woman  Caroline  . 

Among  the  striking  patterns  revealed  by  these  records  is  the  ongoing  participation  of 
Gireaudeau  slaves  in  the  Catholic  sacrament  of  baptism  that  seems  to  indicate  their  full 
involvement  as  spiritual  equals  to  their  white  masters.  On  several  occasions,  black  slaves 
served  as  Godparents  alongside  white  Godparents  in  a  sort  of  spiritual  miscegenation  that 
was  apparently  accepted  by  the  white  and  black  community  alike.  The  white  man,  named 
Martial  Pomet,  who  stood,  in  1839,  as  a  Godfather  with  the  black  Godmother,  Nancy,  was 
the  same  white  merchant  who  had  sponsored  Nancy's  children  in  1820. 

Gabriel  Gireaudeau  was  a  successful  merchant  who  had  thrived  in  Natchez  in  partnership 
with  Martial  Pomet.  The  firm  owned,  at  various  times,  livery  stables,  taverns,  and  lots 
Under-the-Hill  as  well  as  town  property  that  included  the  Gireaudeau  residence  wherein 
the  above  baptized  slaves  lived  and  worked  as  house  servants.  Mrs.  Felicite  Gireaudeau 
was  remembered  at  her  death  in  1862,  age  74,  as  one  of  the  most  important  benefactors 
of  St.  Mary's  Church,  and  her  funeral  procession  to  the  Catholic  Cemetery  outside  of  town 
included  the  "whole  congregation"  as  well  as  many  non-Catholics.2 

The  image  the  baptismal  records  call  to  mind  is  that  of  a  fully  integrated  slave  household 
in  which  slave  servants  were  baptized,  probably  included  in  the  sacraments  of  the  faith, 
and  lived  and  died  (Rachel)  together  for  nearly  two  generations.  Other  documents  relating 
to  the  Gireaudeau  household  reveal,  moreover,  fascinating  aspects  of  a  very  complicated 
slice  of  life  that  went  far  beyond  a  paternalistic  concern  for  the  spiritual  needs  of  its 
domestic  slaves.  Sometime  in  the  decade  after  Sophia  and  Rosalie's  baptism,  their  mother, 
Nancy,  had  achieved  her  freedom.  Whether  or  not  Nancy  was  manumitted  as  a  gift  for 
loyal  service  or  had  managed  to  purchase  her  freedom  out  of  saved  earnings  is  unknown. 
Whatever  the  origins  of  her  freedom,  the  former  slave  Nancy  continued  to  live  in  the 
Gireaudeau  household. 

In  1833,  Nancy  purchased  (from  Felicite  Gireaudeau)  her  daughter  Sophia  and,  in  1835, 
her  youngest  child,  Rosalie.  The  two  young  women,  21  and  17,  were  then  sent  to  Ohio  and 
manumitted  in  Cincinnati,  after  which  they  returned  to  live  with  Nancy  in  the  Gireaudeau 
household.  Nancy  also  freed  at  the  same  time  a  slave  woman  (Sally  McFadden)  whom  she 
had  earlier  acquired.  It  is  likely  that  Nancy's  actions  were  guided  by  Felicite  Gireaudeau 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  white  matriarch  had  manumitted,  in  1833,  a  slave  woman 


233.  Gabriel  Gireaudeau  and  Felicite  Gireaudeau  to  Antoine  Abat,  September  22,  1827,  Adams  County  Deed 
Book  P;  Gireaudeau  &  Pomet  to  Domingo  Lamus.  May  3,  1821,  Adams  County  Deed  Book  L;  Gireaudeau  & 
Pomet  to  Joseph  Quegles,  July  14,  1821,  Adams  County  Deed  Book  M;  Gireaudeau  and  Wife  to  Peter  M. 
Lapice,  November  9,  1827,  Office  of  Records.  Natchez,  Mississippi. 

131 


named  Mary  Jane,  age  17.  As  in  the  cases  of  Sophia,  Rosalie,  and  Sally,  Mrs.  Gireaudeau 
had  sent  Mary  Jane  to  Ohio  for  the  processing  of  her  freedom.234 

Almost  all  of  the  adult  slaves  baptized  in  the  Gireaudeau  household  were  women;  and  all 
but  two  of  the  children  who  were  christened  appear  to  have  been  "illegitimate."  Only 
Nancy  is  mentioned  in  the  baptismal  records  as  having  a  husband  at  the  time  of  the 
baptism  of  her  children.  Just  who  fathered  the  other  children  is  unknown.  But  the  rest  of 
the  picture  is  clear:  Sundays  at  St.  Mary's  in  the  1850s  probably  witnessed  two  old,  white 
and  black  ladies,  Felicite  and  Nancy  Gireaudeau  (Nancy  eventually  took  the  Gireaudeau 
name),  ushering  a  brood  of  black  women  and  children  to  Mass  in  a  scene  that  must  have 
been  a  commonly  accepted  sight  in  antebellum  Natchez  for  years  and  years.23' 

The  combined  black  members  of  the  Catholic,  Presbyterian,  and  Episcopal  Church 
represented  a  relatively  small  percentage  of  the  black  population  in  Natchez.  Most  blacks 
in  Natchez  probably  attended  the  local  Methodist  or  Baptist  churches.  Both  denominations 
had  much  greater  success  in  attracting  black  members  in  Natchez  and  Mississippi  in 
comparison  to  Catholics,  Presbyterians,  and  Episcopalians.  One  scholar  has  estimated  that 
the  Baptist  Church  in  Natchez,  located  at  Wall  and  State  Street,  had  a  membership  of  442 
in  1846,  of  which  380  were  black.  The  Methodist  Church,  located  near  Union  and  Main 
Street  off  Locust  Alley,  on  land  sold  to  the  church  in  1806  by  William  Barland  (a  white 
planter  who  had  fathered  several  openly  acknowledged  mulatto  children),  may  have  had 
an  equal  number  of  black  participants.  Indeed,  the  Secretary  of  the  Methodist  Conference 
of  Mississippi  reported  11,008  black  members  in  the  state  in  1860.  Scattered  evidence 
suggests,  moreover,  that  Methodists  and  Baptists  were  more  racially  integrated  in 
comparison  to  the  Catholics,  Presbyterians,  and  Episcopalians  (separate  buildings  and 
church  galleries).236 

Much  of  the  difference  in  black  membership  reflected  differing  attitudes  toward  the 
concept  of  ministry  among  the  churches  of  Natchez.  Baptists  and  Methodists  placed  much 
less  emphasis  on  an  educated  ministry  in  comparison  to  the  others.  This  is  generally 
thought  by  scholars  of  southern  religion  to  have  resulted  in  a  greater  openness  to  the 
participation  of  the  membership  in  church  services,  possibly  including  the  opportunity  for 
black  preachers  occasionally  to  be  included.23' 

Outside  of  Natchez,  numerous  churches  ministered  to  congregations  that  often  included 
black  slaves.  Baptist  churches  at  Cole  Greek,  New  Hope,  and  Clear  Creek  had  been 


234.  Ibid..  Deed  of  Emancipation.  May  28.  1835;  Felicite  Gireaudeau  to  William  Smith,  May  2,  1833;  Nancy 
Gireaudeau  to  John  R.  Wells,  May  5,  1835;  Rosilla  Gireaudeau  to  Deed  of  Emancipation.  June  9.  1835;  Sophia 
Gireaudeau  to  Deed  of  Emancipation,  June  9,  1835.  Sally  McFadden  to  Deed  of  Emancipation.  June  9,  1835: 
Adams  County  Deed  Book  W,  Office  of  Records.  Natchez,  Mississippi 

235.  Register  of  Baptisms,  St.  Mary's  Cathedral.  The  mystery  of  Felicite  Gireaudeau  is  even  more 
complicated  than  at  first  believed.  She  may  have  been  the  undetected  offspring  of  a  black  parent  in  New 
Orleans.  See  Charles  E.  Nolan,  S/.  Mary's  of  Natchez:  The  History  of  a  Southern  Catholic  congregation, 
171601988,  I  Natchez.  Miss..  1992).  p.  97~ 

236.  Pillar.  "Religious  and  Cultural  Life  in  Mississippi   —  1817-1860.'' 

237.  Ibid..  Sobel.  Trabelin'  On:    The  Slave  Jourr.ey  to  An  Afro-Baptist  Faith. 

132 


established  since  the  early  1800s.  A  Methodist  church  at  Washington,  a  few  miles  from 
Natchez,  was  the  oldest  Methodist  Church  in  the  state,  having  been  organized  in  1799. 
The  Pine  Ridge  Presbyterian  Church  founded  in  1807,  established  a  separate  African 
branch  in  1832  with  several  hundred  'colored"  members.  The  following  quotes  from  the 
church's  Session  book  illustrate  the  point:238 

April  15,  1832  ....  In  the  Afternoon  of  the  same  day  at  4  o'clock,  a  sermon 
was  preached  by  the  Pastor  to  a  Congregation  of  Black  people  assembled  in 
the  body  of  the  church  to  the  number  of  150  or  160  souls. 

December  10.  1832  .  .  .  .After  consultation  it  was  resolved  that  in  view  of 
the  spiritual  wants  of  the  Black  population  within  the  bounds  of  our 
congregation  our  Pastor  be  requested  to  devote  the  evening  of  every 
alternate  Lord's  Day  to  their  religious  instruction  by  preaching  for  their 
benifit  in  the  Church  in  a  style  more  simplified  and  suited  to  their  capacity. 
Also  resolved  that  those  who  give  evidence  of  piety,  and  qualification  for 
membership  in  the  church  be  received  and  organized  into  a  separate  society 
which  shall  constitute  a  Branch  of  Pine  Ridge  Church  and  the  Sacrament 
be  administered  to  them  in  the  presence  of  the  congregation. 

April  20,  1833.  ...  In  the  evening  at  3  o'clock  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  was  administered  for  the  first  time  to  the  African  Branch  of  this 
Church  and  in  addition  to  the  number  already  received,  Sukey,  a  woman 
belonging  to  C.  Stowers  was  received  on  examination  and  baptized  .  .  .  the 
congregation  [of]  Black  people  amounted  upwards  of  two  hundred  souls. 

Exactly  who  were  these  black  Christians  that  filled  the  Wall  Street  Baptist  and  Natchez 
Methodist  churchs  and  attended  services  every  other  Sunday  at  Pine  Ridge?  As  of  this 
writing,  there  is  little  basis  for  making  any  firm  conclusions.  Most  likely,  many  of  the  town 
faithful  were  local  slaves  from  nearby  estates  who  enjoyed  the  freedom  each  Sunday  to 
market,  stroll  around,  and  attend  church  in  Natchez.  Pine  Ridge's  membership  may  have 
been  the  slaves  from  several  local  plantations  who  attended  services  en  masse  at  the 
urging  of  their  masters.  The  fact  that  very  few  of  the  200  "souls"  at  Pine  Ridge  were  actual 
church  members  supports  the  idea  that  most  of  the  participating  slaves  were  there  at  the 
insistence  of  their  masters.  That  such  encouragement  was  a  common  practice  among  the 
country  churches  is  born  out  by  an  entry  in  the  diary  of  a  visitor  to  a  Natchez  area 
plantation  in  1853: 

Sunday  evening. What  would  you  say  to  the  little  church  we  attended? 

It  stands  upon  Mrs.  Dunbar's  grounds  [Forest  Plantation],  but 
accommodates  the  whole  neighborhood.  Here  a  Presbyterian  minister 
officiates,  the  singing  coming  from  the  congregation.  They  have  service, 
however,  but  every  other  Sunday.  But  small  as  the  congregation  is,  the 
ladies  improve  the  opportunity  for  display,  and  I  saw  two  ladies  in  white 
kids,  and  there  was  a  goodly  show  of  silks,  black  laces,  and  ribands.  .  .  . 
This  afternoon  "the  people,"  as  the  blacks  are  called,  passed  under  my 


238.     The  History  of  Pine  ridge  Presbyterian  Church;  "Washington  methodist  Church:  1799-1949,"  Mississippi 
Methodist  Advocate,  (October  19,  1949),  p. 7. 

133 


window  on  their  way  from  Church.  Mr.  Ogden,  a  valetudinarian,  preaches 
to  them  every  other  Sunday.  This  gentleman  is  one  of  the  family.  The 
dresses  of  the  blacks  are  often  very  picturesque.  Many  of  them  at  this 
season  wear  white  flannel,  blankit  coats,  long  and  loose,  with  open  sleeves, 
and  together  with  their  very  gay  head-kerchief  and  very  black  faces,  give  an 
Oriental  appearance  among  the  trees.2 

Whether  or  not  slaves  were  required  by  their  masters  to  attend  church  services  is  unclear. 
The  gaiety  and  excitement  associated  with  going  to  church  on  Sunday,  and  the  large 
number  of  black  Methodist  and  Baptist  churches  that  sprang  up  in  Mississippi  after  the 
Civil  War,  would  suggest  that  more  was  involved  than  simple  compulsion.  Indeed,  many 
planters  and  slaveholders  may  have  felt  it  their  Christian  duty  to  allow  their  slaves  the 
freedom  to  participate  in  church  services.  Such  duty  went  hand-in-hand  with  the 
paternalistic  ethos  at  work  everywhere  in  Natchez,  as  well  as  with  the  prevailing  idea  that 
black  participation  in  established  white  churches  would  undermine  the  emergence  of  an 
indigenous,  and  potentially  dangerous,  black  religion.  One  has  some  sense  of  this 
reasoning  in  the  Pine  Ridge  dictum  that  religious  "instruction  [should]  be  simplified  and 
suited"  to  the  "capacity"  of  the  slaves  in  need  of  such  instruction. 

Nor  is  it  clear  just  how  many  slaves  participated  in  the  district's  established  churches. 
Even  if  25  percent  of  all  black  Mississippi  Methodists  (a  purely  arbitrary  number)  had 
been  Adams  County  slaves,  that  would  have  still  left  the  vast  majority  of  district  slaves 
outside  of  any  organized  church  structure.  When  the  Catholic  Bishop  John  Chanche 
arrived  in  Natchez  in  1841,  he  found  only  two  black  Catholics  among  the  town  population. 
A  few  years  later  in  1844,  he  wrote  about  the  poor  state  of  religion  among  the  blacks  in 
the  Natchez  hinterland: 

It  would  be  very  important  for  religion  in  the  country  here  that  we  could 
have  zealous  Priests  who  would  be  willing  to  give  themselves  entirely  to  the 
instruction  of  the  Negroes.  These  poor  people  live  in  an  entire  ignorance  of 
religion  and  die  without  Baptism.  These  Negroes  are  inclined  to  religion  and 
they  have  not  permission  to  go  outside  of  the  limits  of  the  plantation.  The 
good  which  would  be  there  done  would  be  a  permanent  good.  Besides,  the 
good  would  reflect  upon  their  masters.  When  these  would  see  the  change 
that  would  be  produced  in  their  slaves  they  could  not  but  esteem  a  religion 
which  could  produce  such.  .  .  effects,  and  would  lead  them  to  embrace  it.  I 
have  already  commenced  one  of  these  missions  near  Natchez,  and  I  have 
every  reason  to  be  hopeful.240 

Such  efforts  as  the  above  resulted  in  large  numbers  of  baptisms  but  little  close 
involvement  by  plantation  slaves  in  the  on-going  practice  of  an  institutional  church. 
Instead,  it  is  more  likely  that  plantation  blacks  were  mainly  left  alone  to  their  own 
devices.  On  the  basis  of  what  scholars  know  about  religion  and  slavery  in  the  larger  South, 
it  is  almost  certain  that  many  Natchez  district  plantations  were  self-contained  spiritual 
enclaves  wherein  slave  preachers  conducted  Sunday  services  in  the  woods  out  of  sight  of 


239.  Eliza  Allen  Starr.  Diary,  November  16,  1850,  Natchez  Historic  Foundation,  Natchez.  Mississippi. 

240.  Gerow.  Cradle  Days.  pp. 

134 


the  master,  officiated  at  marriages  and  burials,  and  preached  a  spiritual  message  that 
drew  upon  an  African  past  as  well  as  the  Christianity  of  the  dominant  white  culture  . 

Bishop  Chanche,  to  make  the  point  clear,  was  dead  wrong  in  his  opinion  that  plantation 
slaves  were  ignorant  of  religion.  Much  of  the  burial  practice,  marriage  activities,  and  daily 
lives  of  district  slaves  involved  a  highly  religious  character  as  expressed  in  songs,  stories, 
and  a  set  of  moral  values  that  emphasized  a  communal  and  spiritual  consciousness  vastly 
more  complex  than  was  apparent  to  their  white  masters.  Students  of  black  spirituals  have 
amply  documented  the  extent  to  which  slaves  resorted  to  musical  prayer  in  their  rowing, 
ploughing,  picking,  shucking,  and  recreational  singing.  Indeed,  almost  all  aspects  of 
plantation  life  were  believed  to  be  the  manifestation  of  a  cosmic  and  sacred  order  that 
could  be  expressed  and  dealt  with  in  songs,  story,  and  humor.  Much  more  was  going  on, 
in  other  words,  in  the  spiritual  life  of  Natchez  slaves  than  was  obvious  to  the 
untrained  eye.241 

Although  this  is  not  the  place  to  document  it,  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  much  of  the 
slave's  spiritual  life  in  the  Natchez  district  was  influenced  by  an  African  folk  tradition  that 
lived  on  in  slavery.  It  is  also  clear  that  much  of  the  slave's  spirituality  was  deeply  affected 
by  those  parts  of  Christianity  commiserate  with  the  realities  of  slavery.  The  Old  and  New 
Testament  ideas  of  life  being  a  spiritual  journey,  of  just  rewards  and  punishment  for 
injustices  done,  of  a  personal  and  understanding  God,  of  a  spiritual  family  of  brothers  and 
sisters  in  grace,  and  of  ultimate  salvation,  affirmation,  and  divine  intervention  were  the 
spiritual  values  slaves  found  applicable  to  the  life  of  slavery. 

The  Christian  message  that  slaves  took  to  heart  and  expressed  in  their  songs  and  prayers 
came  to  them  largely  by  means  of  outdoor  camp-meetings  that  swept  over  the  Natchez 
district  beginning  around  1800.  The  first  camp-meeting  held  in  Mississippi  occurred  at 
Clear  Creek  in  Adams  County  in  1804.  Thereafter,  Protestant  revivals  were  a  regular 
feature  of  the  countryside,  usually  occurring  in  the  late  fall  of  the  year  after  the  cotton  had 
been  picked.  Baptists  and  Methodists  would  send  their  best  preachers  to  exhort  and  plead 
with  thousands  of  white  and  black  participants  to  "get  right"  with  God  and  accept  His 
divine  grace  as  the  first  step  toward  salvation. 

Most  importantly,  the  camp-meetings  differed  radically  from  the  sermons  and 
proclamations  that  slaves  were  forced  to  suffer  through  in  the  established  church  services 
on  Sunday.  Revivalist  preachers  seldom  lectured  slaves  on  their  duties  as  slaves,  but 
rather  addressed  their  emotional  needs  and  the  importance  of  accepting  Christ  as  a 
personal  savior.  The  services  required  no  hymnals,  little  fancy  dress,  and  scant  overseeing 
by  their  white  masters.  Instead,  slaves  could  sing  and  shout,  emote  as  sinners  on  the  verge 
of  deliverance,  breathe  in  the  fresh  country  air  of  religious  exuberance,  experience  the  joy 
of  unshackled  prayer,  and  embrace  enthusiastically  the  conviction  that  if  Moses  had  been 
delivered  from  Egypt  so  also  would  slaves  find  their  promised  land.  And  because  slaves 
could  easily  fit  camp-meeting  Christianity  into  their  hidden  "brush-arbor"  plantation 


241.  Blassingame,  The  Slave  Community;  Genovese,  Roll,  Jordan,  Roll;  Levine,  Black  Culture  and  Black 
Consciousness;  Sobel,  The  World  They  Made  Together;  Sobel.  Trabelin'  On:  The  Slave  Journey  to  An  Afro- 
Baptist  Faith. 

135 


services,  successful  revivals  could  inspire  local  black  divines  to  continue  the  message 
betwixt-and-between  meetings  for  months  on  end.242 


THE  USE  OF  TERROR 

Because  slavery  was  so  brutish  a  way  of  life  in  the  main,  Natchez  slave  masters  employed 
random  terror  as  a  means  of  dealing  with  those  slaves  not  susceptible  to  whippings, 
paternalism,  religion,  or  the  threat  of  selling  them  or  their  families.  Table  9  presents 
information  on  the  array  of  stories  printed  in  two  Natchez  newspapers  for  select  years 
before  the  Civil  War.  In  looking  at  the  data  it  is  seen  that  212  items  appeared  in  the 
papers  during  the  five  years  assessed.  Nearly  50  percent  of  the  items  were  advertisements 
for  selling  slaves.  Among  the  other  50  percent  were  107  stories,  opinions,  notices,  and 
statements  that  spelled  out  what  was  deemed  worthy  of  note  regarding  slaves  in  the 
Natchez  district. 


242.     Pillar,  "Religious  and  Cultural  Life  in  Mississippi  —  1817-1860." 

136 


Table  9.  Black  Related  Items  in  Natchez  Newspapers:  1847-1859 


'< 


Major  Crimes 

22 

20.5 

Runaways 

18 

16.8 

Social  Control 

17 

15.8 

Petty  Crime 

11 

10.2 

Damage  to  Slave 

7 

6.5 

Free  Blacks 

6 

5.6 

Neutral  Items 

6 

5.6 

Blacks  against  Blacks 

4 

3.7 

Arson 

4 

3.7 

Revolts 

3 

3.7 

Positive  Items 

2 

1.8 

Entertainment  Items 

2 

1.8 

Ridicule 

2 

1.8 

Slave  Stealing 

2 

1.8 

Protection  of  Slaves 

_L 

0.9 

Total 

107 

99.3: 

Attacks  on  Overseers 

16 

14.5 

Overseer  Items  as  Percent 

of  Major  Crimes 

72.7 

Major  Crimes,  Runaways,  & 

Social  Control  Items  as 

Percent  of  Total  68  72.7 

Slave  Advertisements  105  49.5 


Source:    The  Natchez  Weekly  Courier,  .'850,  1857-1859; 
the  Mississippi  Free-Trader,  1847,  1854-1857. 

*Percent  does  not  equal  100  due  to  rounding  off. 


For  the  purposes  of  this  study,  the  items  reported  were  few  in  number  and  seldom  about 
the  daily  life  of  blacks  in  Natchez.  Only  107  items  in  two  newspapers  for  five  years  works 
out  to  be  about  one  item  every  two  or  three  weeks.  Relatively  few  items  deal  with  free 
blacks,  petty  thefts,  ridicule,  praise,  or  noting  the  unusual.  Minor  social  control  issues 
came  up  now-and-then.  These  items  usually  had  to  do  with  blacks  taking  over  the  local 
market,  drinking,  and  legislation  aimed  at  regulating  the  slave  trade  or  licensing  free 


137 


blacks  in  the  community.243  Not  once,  for  example,  was  William  Johnson's  name,  the 
most  popular  free  black  in  Natchez,  found  in  the  papers,  except  among  those  residents 
having  uncollected  mail  at  the  post  office. 

The  local  press,  not  surprisingly,  seldom  noted  the  routine  aspects  of  black  life.  Instead, 
where  blacks  were  concerned,  the  newspapers  chiefly  reported  on  their  sale,  running  away, 
and  violence.  If  the  papers  are  read  with  just  these  notices  in  mind,  the  impression  is  that 
of  a  community  overwhelmed  by  public  spectacles  wherein  blacks  were  sold,  captured, 
whipped,  branded,  and  executed  in  a  frenzied  drive  to  maintain  white  control. 

Looking  specifically  at  the  major  crimes,  the  newspaper  reports  typically  covered  three 
aspects  of  the  case:  the  alleged  crimes,  the  ensuing  trials,  and  the  final  verdicts.  In  most 
cases,  it  was  usually  assumed  by  the  white  community  that  slave  criminals  would  be 
quickly  caught,  brought  before  a  Grand  Jury  of  the  Circuit  Court,  and  then  tried,  if  the 
evidence  so  warranted  it,  by  a  "Petite  Jury"  of  twenty  white  citizens.  If  found  guilty  of 
murdering,  or  attempting  to  murder,  a  white  person,  the  punishment  was  execution  by 
hanging. 

It  is  important  to  understand  that  the  judicial  proceedings  almost  always  generated  a 
popular  spectacle  that  was  an  important  means  of  uniting  whites  into  a  common  body  of 
relative  equality  and  a  mutual  interest  in  the  delivery  of  swift  and  terrible  punishment. 
Occasionally,  vigilantism  would  occur,  as  was  the  case  when  five  overseers  in  Concordia 
took  the  law  into  their  own  hands  and  almost  beat  to  death  a  slave  accused  of  cutting  off 
the  arm  of  a  fellow  overseer.  Most  often,  the  judicial  spectacle  —  because  of  its 
openness  and  citizen  participation  —  proved  to  be  more  satisfying  as  a  social  process  than 
lynchings  and  random  vigilantism. 

At  the  first  notice  of  a  major  crime,  the  town  citizenry,  both  black  and  white,  would  gather 
at  the  courthouse  to  hear  the  evidence,  to  gossip  about  the  matter  on  the  street  corners 
and  in  coffee  shops  at  the  market  on  Canal  Street,  and  to  trade  opinions  back-and-forth. 
As  a  trial  proceeded,  citizen  groups  would  visit  the  murder  sites,  interview  potential 
witnesses,  present  petitions,  and  pay  close  attention  to  the  unfolding  story.  If  the  verdict 
was  guilty,  the  execution  would  occur  swiftly  and  with  great  public  attention  —  often  at 
a  public  place  involving  significant  pomp  and  circumstance.  The  involvement  of  the  town's 
entire  white  citizenry,  moreover,  in  the  public  spectacles  of  slave  punishment  enabled  non- 
slave  owners  to  exercise  an  equal  say  with  slave  masters  in  the  key  societal  issue  of  the 
day:  the  control  of  black  people. 

Just  as  whites  were  caught  up  in  the  spectacles  of  slave  control,  so  too  were  the  enslaved 
and  free  blacks  of  the  community.  Town  blacks  partook  of  the  daily  excitement  that 
surrounded  the  unfolding  story  of  the  alleged  crimes  partly  because  of  the  nature  of  small- 


243.  Not  included  in  the  above  assessments  are  the  numerous  sexton  notices  reporting  the  deaths  of  slaves 
and  free  blacks.  See  the  Natchez  Weekly  Courier,  December  17,  1859;  September  1,  1858.  for  examples  of 
mortuary  statistics.  For  six  months  from  January  1  to  August  1.  1858.  thirty-six  blacks  died  in  Natchez 
compared  to  sixty-five  whites.  The  statistics  for  the  full  year  of  1859  were  reported  as  fifty-seven  black 
compared  to  seventy-three  whites. 

244.  See  Johnson's  Natchez,  p.  462. 

138 


town  life  —  picking-up  on  conversations  in  the  carriages,  at  the  market,  and  via  the  local 
grapevine  —  as  would  be  expected  in  a  slave  environment  wherein  the  enslaved  had 
considerable  freedom  to  move  around  as  errand  boys,  hired  hands,  messengers,  and 
domestic  servants. 

Slave  participation  in  the  pageantry,  however,  went  far  beyond  the  gossip  and  banter  of 
small-town  life.  In  fact,  slaves  were  forced  to  participate  as  a  very  function  of  the 
proceedings.  Slave  witnesses  to  the  crime  would  be  marched  to  town  for  interrogation, 
with  the  court  paying  witness  fees  and  expenses;  or  else  the  entire  jury  (or  almost  any 
group  of  concerned  white  citizens)  would  travel  to  the  murder  site  to  question  potential 
slave  witnesses.  Once  guilt  was  determined,  the  actual  execution,  flogging,  branding,  or 
confinement  in  stocks  usually  occurred  in  a  public  place  (courthouse  yard,  jail  yard,  or  the 
site  of  the  murder).  Slaves  would  be  brought  to  the  execution  site  to  witness  the  local 
militia  in  their  full  parade  dress,  standing  in  symbolic  as  well  as  actual  control  of  the 
social  order.245 


245.  One  of  the  issues  hotly  debated  in  the  community  involved  the  site  of  slave  executions  and  whether  it 
was  more  beneficial  to  have  a  public  execution  in  town  with  slaves  brought  in  as  witnesses,  a  private  execution 
in  the  backyard  of  the  jail,  or  executions  at  the  spot  of  the  crime.  All  three  types  of  executions  occurred  in  the 
years  surveyed.  In  December  of  1857,  verdicts  were  handed  down  in  two  separate  trials  in  which  six  slaves 
(three  in  each  case)  were  found  guilty  of  murdering  their  overseers.  The  crimes,  although  happening  at  the 
same  time,  appear  to  have  been  unrelated.  But  the  public  pageantry  associated  with  the  murders  consumed 
public  attention  for  months.  The  condemned  slaves  were  eventually  executed  by  hanging  "very  near  where 
they  left"  the  bodies  of  the  murdered  overseers.    See  the  Natchez  Weekly  Conner,  December  16.  1857; 

In  another  case  of  slaves  to  be  executed  for  murdering  an  overseer,  a  major  debate  raged  as  to  where 
the  hanging  would  be  held.  A  group  of  citizens  circulated  a  petition  objecting  to  the  court  decision  to  execute 
the  slaves  Frank  and  General  in  a  public  hanging  because  it  was  the  conviction  of  the  petitioners  "that  private 
executions  carry  with  them  more  terror."  The  court  had  originally  ordered  a  public  execution  at  the  town  jail 
on  State  Street,  but  then  decided  to  hold  the  hanging  —  in  view  of  the  public  spectacle  involved  —  in  a  vacant 
lot  owned  by  L.R.  Marshal  a  short  distance  south  of  Natchez.  On  December  22,  1854,  the  slaves  Frank  and 
General  were  marched  to  the  execution  place  under  "strong  military  guard"  consisting  of  the  Natchez  Fencibles 
commanded  by  Edward  Pickett,  Jr.,  in  the  front  column,  the  Adams  Light  guard  under  the  command  of 
"Captain  Clark"  in  the  center,  and  the  Natchez  Guard  under  the  command  of  "Captain  Midderhoff '  in  the  rear. 
Approximately  3000  blacks  and  whites  witnessed  the  execution.  See  the  Mississippi  Free-Trader,  December 
22;  December  27,  1854. 

An  editorial  in  the  Natchez  Weekly  Courier,  June  6,  1858,  is  worth  quoting  to  illustrate  how  whites 
used  slave  trials  and  executions  as  instruments  of  terror.    The  underlined  portions  are  mine: 

The  solemn  sentence  of  the  law  in  the  case  of  Peter,  a  slave,  the  property  of  John 

Robson,  of  this  county,  was  carried  into  execution  yesterday  at  12  o'clock,  in  the  back  yard 

of  the  county  jail.  But  few  were  present,  and  those  only  specifically  or  officially  invited  by  the 

Sheriff. 

Peter,  unquestionably  suffered  righteously.    He  was  found  guilty  of  an  attempt  to 

commit  murder  on  a  white  man,  and  the  slave  must  be  taught  that  an  awful  death  is  the 

certain  punishment  of  so  horrible  a  crime. 

In  this  case,  the  condemned  slave  was  not  publicly  executed  mainly  because  the  white  person  whom 
he  had  attempted  to  murder  was  one  of  those  Under-theJTill  riff-raft,  "white  only  in  their  color,"  who  "place 
themselves  on  an  equality  with  the  negro,  and  who  invite,  by  their  familiarity  with  them  over  the  whiskey  jug, 
and  greasy  pack  of  cards,  their  animosity  and  occasional  vengeance."  'But  still  the  editor  thought  that  the 
court  had  missed  an  opportunity  in  foregoing  a  public  hanging. 

139 


THE  INVISIBLE  WORLD  OF  SLAVERY 

Important,  too,  for  understanding  how  Natchez  slaves  handled  slavery  is  the  fact  that 
most  of  them  lived  within  the  chinks  of  the  system,  somewhat  unobserved  by  the  whites 
all  around  them.  Johnson's  slave,  Steven,  for  example,  would  run  away  and  be  gone  for 
days,  hiding  out  Under-the-Hill  or  in  the  woods.  Most  runaways  were  never  reported  in 
the  press  or  to  the  authorities  because  running  away  was  probably  accepted  by  all 
concerned  as  part  of  the  system.  Slaves  commonly  ran  away  to  avoid  punishment,  usually 
to  return  when  the  overseer  or  master  had  calmed  down.  Even  trusted  body  servants 
would  take  off  for  a  few  days  only  to  return  with  an  excuse  that  no  one  really  believed  but 
that  everyone  generally  accepted.246 

To  a  large  extent,  the  life  that  slaves  carved  out  for  themselves  within  the  system  was 
invisible  to  white  slaveholders  partly  because  few  whites  wished  to  see  it,  and  partly 
because  whites  did  not  have  the  resources  to  control  all  aspects  of  black  life  even  had  they 
wanted  to.  Travelers  to  Natchez  frequently  commented  on  the  degree  to  which  the  town 
was  overrun  by  slaves.  Certainly  Christmas  was  one  such  special  day  when  blacks  from 
miles  around  were  allowed  to  visit  Natchez;  but  so  too  was  every  Sunday,  when 
neighborhood  slaves  brought  their  garden  crops,  fish,  eggs,  and  chickens  to  town  to  sell. 
That  was  what  a  famous  African  slave  prince  (discussed  in  Chapter  I)  was  doing  in  town 
(selling  sweet  potatoes)  when  discovered  by  the  white  man  whose  life  his  father  had  saved 
years  before  in  Africa.  So  pervasive  was  the  practice  of  allowing  slaves  to  have  the  run  of 
the  town  on  Sundays  that  Natchez  authorities  usually  rang  a  bell  in  the  evening  to  let 
slaves  know  when  they  were  expected  to  leave.24' 

Although  slaves  could  not  go  just  anywhere  at  anytime,  there  were  ways  around  the 
restrictions  as  long  as  one's  absence  was  not  noticed  or  too  disruptive  of  the  system.  Slaves 
frequently  visited  neighboring  plantations  with  the  written  permission  of  their  masters 


246.  See  the  Mississippi  free-Trader,  January  1,  1856,  for  an  interesting  comment  on  a  runaway  slave. 

Isaac,  a  body  servant  of  Gen.  Quitman,  arrived  home  a  few  days  since.  Shortly  after 
the  General  reached  Washington  City,  Isaac  expressed  a  great  desire  to  return  home 
to  Mississippi.  Upon  being  pressed  for  his  reasons  for  so  sudden  a  wish,  he  told  his 
master  that  he  had  been  repeated  beset  by  two  white  men  form  boston  who  argued 
him  to  accept  their  aid  to  run  from  his  master.  He  stated  that  he  was  afraid  that  he 
would  be  kidnapped  into  freedom,  as  he  believed  the  two  men  were  capable  of  any 
atrocity.   The  General  gave  Isaac  a  pass  with  which  he  safely  reached  home  to  his 
infinite  satisfaction. 
Quitman's  family  saw  Isaac  in  a  slightly  different  light.   John  Quitman's  daughter.  Antonia.  wrote 
on  December  23,  1855:    "Isaac  reached  home  yesterday  morning,  he  took  us  quite  by  surprise  with  his  sudden 
appearance,  and  seems  quite  delighted  to  be  back  home  again.    I  think  he  has  proved  himself  to  be  a  very 
hearted  faithful  fellow."    Another  daughter,  Rosalie  wrote  on  December  30.  1855:    "Isaac  came  home  two  or 
three  weeks  ago;  we  were  quite  surprised  one  morning  to  see  him  come  walking  up  to  the  door.   He  says  that 
it  is  entirely  too  cold  for  him  up  there,  and  he  seemed  very  glad  to  be  back  home  again.  (See  Quitman  Family 
Papers.  SHC,  University  of  North  Carolina,  Chapel  Hill,  North  Carolina). 

Perhaps  the  reason  why  Quitman  daughters  were  surprised  to  see  Isaac  is  because  of  his  history  of 
running  away.  Quitman's  law  partner  and  neighbor,  John  McMuran  had  offered  a  reward  for  Isaac  in 
September  of  1847.    (See  the  Mississippi  Free-Trader,  September  8.  1947). 

247.  See  Terry  Alford,  Prince  Among  Slaves:  The  True  Story  of  An  African  Prince  Sold  Into  Slavery  in  the 
American  South  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1986,  Oxford  University  Press  Edition),  pp.  68-69;  J.H.  Ingraham,  2  vols. 
The  Southwest  by  a  Yankee  (New  York,  N.Y..  1835),  II.  pp.  72-73;  Sydnor,  Slavery,  pp.  81-85. 

140 


or  else  by  evading  slave  patrols  never  numerous  enough  to  keep  all  slaves  encamped. 
Slaves  stole  away  to  the  rivers  to  fish,  to  the  woods  to  hunt,  and  to  town  for  whatever 
opportunities  awaited  them.  Johnson's  diary  presents  abundant  evidence  of  how  easy  it 
was  for  town  blacks  to  be  out-and-about: 


October  23, 
1835. 


William  &  John  Stayed  Out  until  after  ten  Olock. 


November  1, 
1835. 

February  5, 
1839. 


May  24,  1840 


February  7, 
1841. 


Find  William  at  mr.  Parkers  Kitchen  with  his  Girls 

I  gave  Winston  &  John  to  Day  a  complete  Floging 
this  morning  for  Going  home  last  night  without  my 
Leave.  .  .  . 

I  wrote  some  passes  Last  night,  One  for  Phillip,  for 
Sarah  [andl  One  Tforl  Lucinda  to  Go  Out  to  a 
Preaching  and  neither  of  Came  Home  at  all  Last 
Night. 

I  herd  to  day  that  John  and  Winston  was  up  about 
the  Lake  a  Hunting  and  I  took  my  Horse  in  the 
afternoon  and  wrode  up  thare  and  Caught  Both  of 
them  and  gave  them  Both  a  Floging  and  took  away 
there  Guns  —  I  threw  away  Winstons  as  far  as  I 
could  in  the  Mississippi. 

John  has  a  Pistol  Taken  from  Him  to  day  and  Caps. 
He  was  making  Preparation  to  Hunt,  After  being 
foiled  in  his  opperations  He  got  on  Bourd  of 
Steamer  Constelation  and  went  to  New  Orleans  — 
Steven  is  runaway  too  at  present  time. 

Just  as  I  got  Opposite  the  Shop  I  saw  Bill,  Charles, 
Dick,  afnd}  Winston  all  Just  walking  Out  to  market 
to  take  Coffee,  and  I  called  Winston  back  and  went 
in.  .  .  .  the  Boys  had  been  playing  Cards  all  night  in 
my  room. 

So  freely  did  blacks  move  around  town  —  often  as  hired  cabbies,  carriage  drivers  on 
errands,  and  workers  —  that  the  white  citizenry  frequently  tried  to  reign  them  in  with 
laws  forbidding  "Negro"  trade,  banning  the  sale  of  alcohol  to  blacks,  and  establishing 
curfews.  But  few  curbing  efforts  were  successful.  In  1858,  the  editor  of  the  Natchez  Weekly 
Courier  wrote  with  emotion  about  an  "evil  that  should  be  remedied,"  meaning  the  nearly 
complete  control  exercised  by  slaves  and  free  blacks  over  the  town  produce  market  on 
Canal  Street.248 


May  16,  1841. 


February  1, 
1844. 


248.     The  Natchez  Weekly  Courier,  October  20,  1858. 


141 


Most  slaves  in  the  Natchez  district,  by  way  of  conclusion,  managed  to  establish  some 
breathing  space  for  themselves  within  the  chinks  and  interstices  of  the  system.  Plantation 
slaves  lived  in  family  cabins;  prayed  and  worshipped  in  "brush  arbors"  of  their  own 
choosing;  sang  work  songs  and  spirituals  of  their  own  composition;  ran  away  for  days  and 
weeks  at  a  time;  and  privately  buried  their  dead  in  unmarked  graves.  In  a  multi-layered 
world  usually  just  out-of-sight  to  the  white  eyes  all  around  them,  Natchez  slaves 
participated  in  camp-meetings,  had  children  by  secret  lovers  whom  the  established  white 
churches  never  officially  recognized,  stayed  out  until  all  hours  of  the  night,  stole  off  to  the 
market  for  coffee  and  to  the  woods  for  hunting,  and  traveled  around  the  countryside  on 
the  pretext  of  going  to  church  or  on  errands.  Even  on  closely  supervised  slave  plantations, 
white  overseers  used  black  drivers  as  their  eyes  and  ears,  meaning  that  black  supervisors 
most  likely  reported  what  they  believed  the  overseers  wanted  to  be  told  rather  than  what 
was  actually  happening  in  the  quarters.249 

This  is  not  to  say,  however,  that  the  hidden  world  of  Natchez  blacks  was  largely  free  from 
white  overlording.  Rather,  it  is  to  say  that  Natchez  blacks  were  forced  to  practice  a  kind 
of  subterfuge  of  varied  and  complex  character  as  a  strategy  of  survival.  For  some  slaves 
survival  meant  going  to  church  on  cue,  working  hard  and  long  and  well,  or  just  "loving" 
their  white  masters.  Being  stupid  or  irresponsible  worked  well  for  others.  A  few,  when 
pushed  to  the  limits,  coped  by  running  away,  fighting  back,  and  murdering  their  masters 
and  overseers  in  genuine  acts  of  rage.25  Most  slaves,  however,  just  tried  to  stay  out-of- 
sight  as  much  as  possible,  creating,  in  the  process,  a  shield  of  cultural  and  social 
invisibility  that  greatly  (and  ironically)  undermined  their  official  status  (in  the  eyes  of 
whites)  as  non-persons.  The  slave's  invisibility  nurtured  (  and  this  is  the  point  of  the 
irony)  a  certain  independence  of  mind,  body,  and  spirit  not  easily  controlled  by  either 
terror  or  paternalism. 


249.  For  discussion  of  slave  drivers  and  overseers  in  general  see  William  K.  Scarborough.  The  Overseer: 
Plantation  Management  in  the  Old  South  (Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1966);  and  William  L.  Van  DeBurg,  The  Slave 
Drivers:    Black  Agricultural  Labor  Supervisors  in  the  Antebellum  South  (Westport.  Conn..  1979). 

250.  See  Mark  Ellis,  "Crime  and  Punishment  in  Antebellum,  Adams  County:  1855-1860."  unpublished  paper 
in  author's  possession. 

142 


BREAKING  FOR  FREEDOM:  THE  CIVIL  WAR  YEARS 


The  Civil  War  years  swept  through  the  Natchez  district  like  a  raging  prairie  fire,  burning 
to  the  roots  all  that  had  grown  and  flourished  under  the  name  of  slavery.  Masters  became 
soldiers,  servants  in  their  own  houses,  and  displaced  refugees;  estate  mansions  stabled 
horses  and  Yankee  troops;  cotton  squares  filled  up  with  shanty  shacks;  slave  marts  were 
turned  into  army  barracks;  black  soldiers  patrolled  where  only  white  nightriders  once  rode; 
and  slaves  broke  free  of  their  entrapment  in  ways  that  puts  to  rest  the  old  idea  that  most 
of  them  had  been  somehow  content  with  their  bondage.251 

Scorching  as  were  the  hot  flames  of  war,  at  no  time  was  Yankee  victory  altogether 
complete.  Rebel  soldiers  and  so-called  "irregulars"  raided  plantations  in  the  immediate 
hinterland,  kidnapped  blacks  into  slavery,  and  killed  and  terrorized  Union  sympathizers. 
With  the  town's  occupation  by  Union  forces,  Confederate-leaning  citizens,  Union 
supporters,  and  so-called  "turn-coats"  used  their  political  power,  money,  and  shrewd 
dealings  to  influence  their  Yankee  conquerors  in  support  of  racial  policies  designed  to 
promote  the  stability  and  discipline  of  the  so-called  freedmen.  For  most  Yankees,  such 
policies  seemed  to  be  reasonable  objectives  at  least  in  the  short  run.25 !  For  those 
Natchez  slaves  caught  in  the  middle,  however,  the  struggle  with  the  enemy  from  without 
(Confederates)  and  the  enemy  from  within  (their  white  allies)  was  largely  overshadowed 
by  a  tragic  irony:  thousands  were  struck  down  on  the  very  threshold  of  their  freedom  by 
deadly  wartime  diseases  that  turned  Natchez  into  a  veritable  death  camp  of  human 
suffering.  Both  freedom  and  death  were  the  twin  realities  for  African-Americans  in  Civil 
War  Natchez. 


CONFEDERATE  NATCHEZ 

The  first  fourteen  months  of  war  hardly  affected  Natchez  except  in  the  minds  of  the 
district's  white  residents.  The  town  and  its  immediate  hinterland  had  been  something  of 
a  Unionist  stronghold  prior  to  secession,  sending  Whiggish  delegates  to  the  state's 
secession  convention  in  January  of  1861.  But  when  Mississippi  cast  its  fate  with  the 
Confederacy,  even  the  formerly  skeptical  generally  went  along.  Able-bodied  men  flocked 


251.  For  general  background  information  on  the  Civil  War  in  Mississippi  see  Edwin  C.  Bearss,  "The  Armed 
Conflict,  1861-1865."  in  Richard  Aubrey  McLemore,  led.),  A  History  of  Mississippi  lHattiesburg,  Miss..  1973), 
pp.  447-491;  John  K.  Bettersworth,  Confederate  Mississippi:  The  People  and  Policies  of  A  Confederate  State 
in  Wartime  (Baton  Rouge.  La.,  1943). 

252.  Sources  for  Natchez  during  the  war  include  the  following:  Martha  Mitchell  Bigelow,  "Freedman  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley.  1862-1865,"  Civil  War  History  VII  (March  1962),  pp.  38-47;  Ronald  L.F.  Davis,  Good  and 
Faithful  Labor:  From  Slavery  to  Sharecropping  in  the  Natchez  District,  1860-1890  (Westport,  Conn..  1982); 
John  Eaton,  Grant,  Lincoln,  and  the  Freedman  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1907);  Matilda  Gresham,  Life  of  Walter 
Quintin  Gresham:  1832-1893  (Chicago,  111.,  1919),  p.  239-264;  Thomas  W.  Knox,  Camp-Fire  and  Cotton-Field: 
Life  With  the  Union  Armies  and  Residence  on  a  Louisiana  Plantation  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1865  —  De  Capo  Press 
Reprint),  pp.  305-441;  James  E.  Yeatman,  A  Report  on  the  Condition  of  the  Freedmen  of  the  Mississippi  Valley 
(St.  Louis,  Mo.,  1864),  pp.  1-16. 

143 


to  be  among  the  first  volunteers  to  war,  and  the  town  eventually  sent  fourteen  companies 
of  Natchez  youth  off  to  battle  the  Yankee  aggressors.253 

At  the  head  of  the  list  were  three  venerable  Natchez  militia  units:  the  Natchez  Fencibles 
(144  men),  Adams  Guards  A  (128)  and  B  (108),  and  Quitman's  Light  Artillery  (71).  Other 
groups  followed  in  rapid  order:  Adams  Troops  (103),  Natchez  Rifles  (123),  Natchez  Light 
Infantry  (115),  Tom  Weldon  Rebels  (82),  Natchez  Southerons  (127),  Conner  Battery  (160), 
English  Battery  (75),  Breckenridge  Guard  (115),  Capt.  Lynn's  Squad  (26).  and  the 
Bingaman  Rangers  (69). 254 

Some  of  the  companies  were  funded  in  their  entirety  by  wealthy  planters.  Most  were 
ushered  off  to  war  with  great  pomp  and  circumstance.  Tom  Weldon's  Rebels,  for  example, 
were  treated  to  a  special  blessing  of  their  flag  and  a  high  mass  sung  by  Bishop  John  Elder 
in  St.  Mary's  Cathedral.  Eventually,  1444  Natchez  white  boys  and  men  tramped  off  to  war; 
510  of  them  died,  deserted,  or  were  discharged  for  disabilities  before  the  fighting  had 
stopped.255 

Among  the  residents  who  stayed  at  home,  the  focus  of  their  early  war  time  activities 
centered  on  politics  and  preparing  for  invasion.  The  state  government  encouraged  a  shift 
from  cotton  to  corn  as  the  war  progressed  with  legislation  limiting  the  amount  of  cotton 
planted  to  six  acres  per  hand.  Some  Natchez  area  planters  undoubtedly  conformed  to  these 
decrees  by  altering  the  work  of  their  slaves.  More  importantly,  local  planters  stepped-up 
the  supervision  of  their  slaves  in  response  to  state  laws  to  that  end.  State  legislation 
limited  the  movement  of  slaves,  requiring  that  they  be  housed  in  close  proximity  to 
overseers,  with  penalties  imposed  on  those  trading  with  or  otherwise  tampering  with 
slaves.  Planters  also  ended  the  practice  of  allowing  their  slaves  the  privilege  of  going  to 
Natchez  on  Sundays  for  church  services  and  marketing.  More  and  more  Natchez  district 
plantations  began  to  look  like  self-sufficient  and  enclosed  camps.256 

Feeding  the  growing  militancy  were  rumors  of  pending  slave  insurrection.  One  incident 
in  the  spring  of  1861  set  militia  groups  to  organizing  home  guards  with  a  frenzy  that 
reached  nearly  fever  pitch.  A  runaway  slave  named  Orange  (according  to  testimony  taken 
by  fourteen  slaves  said  to  have  been  part  of  the  plot)  was  alleged  to  have  hatched  a 
conspiracy  among  a  group  of  slaves  gathered  at  a  fishing  hole  in  Adams  County.  The 
conspirators  had  planned,  according  to  the  witnesses,  to  wait  for  the  North  to  defeat  the 
South,  and  then  they  would  rise  up  and  kill  their  masters  and  "ravish  white  wives  and 
daughters."  Whether  there  was  any  substance  to  the  plot  is  difficult  to  say,  but  the  energy 


253.  See  Clover  Moore,  "Separation  from  the  Union:  1854-186."  in  Richard  Aubrey  McLemore.  led.).  A 
History  of  Mississippi  (Hattiesburg.  Miss.,  1973).  pp.  443-446;  Major  Steve  Power.  The  Memento:  Old  and  New 
Natchez,  1700-1897.  2  vols.  (Natchez..  Miss.,  1897).  I:  pp.  58-59. 

254.  Civil  War  Diary  of  Capt.  T.  Otis  Baker,  Baker  Collection.  Mississippi  Department  of  Archives  and 
History.  Jackson,  Mississippi. 

255.  Ibid.,  Bittersworth,  Confederate  Mississippi,  pp.  287-288. 

256.  John  K.  Bittersworth,  "The  Home  Front.  1861-1865,"  in  Richard  Aubrey  McLemore,  (ed.),  A  History  of 
Mississippi  (Hattiesburg,  Miss..  1973).  pp.  492-571. 

144 


it  unleashed  suggests  that  most  district  whites  believed  their  slaves  capable  of  almost 
anything  once  the  war  had  begun.25 

Other  than  the  efforts  to  curb  insurgency  and  police  the  district,  area  whites  made  little 
preparation  for  war.  The  Natchez  Board  of  Selectmen  appropriated  $1000  for  defense  of 
the  town  and  authorized  preparation  of  two  cannon  on  the  bluff.  But  no  Confederate  flags 
flew  at  the  courthouse  or  from  the  rise  overlooking  the  river.  Cotton  continued  to  be 
stockpiled  in  the  town  through  the  winter  and  spring  of  1861  and  1862,  while  area 
planters  waited  for  the  opportunity  to  get  their  crops  to  market.  All  eyes,  nevertheless, 
watched  the  river  with  anxiety  and  expectations.258 

In  mid-May  1862,  Union  warships  sailed  up  the  Mississippi  River  to  Natchez.  Only  a 
handful  of  Natchez  residents  turned  out  to  defend  the  town,  and  Confederate  Brig.  Gen. 
C.  G.  Dahlgren,  furious  at  the  lack  of  response  and  the  refusal  of  local  "conscripts"  to 
stand  and  fight,  abandoned  the  town  to  its  municipal  authorities  without  firing  a  shot.  On 
May  13,  the  mayor  of  Natchez  communicated  to  the  commander  of  the  U.S.  Steamer, 
Iroquois,  anchored  at  the  landing,  his  informal  acceptance  of  Union  terms.  A  few  days 
later,  a  Union  transport  landed  a  thousand  men  at  Vidalia  on  the  Louisiana  side  of  the 
river. 

For  the  next  eight  months,  Union  warships  and  gunboats  steamed  past  Natchez  in 
preparation  for  the  coming  battle  of  Vicksburg  to  the  north.  General  Dahlgren,  now 
stationed  at  Corinth,  set  his  troops  to  work  burning  cotton  within  five  miles  of  the  town. 
But  Natchez  itself  was  not  occupied  until  the  following  summer.260 

On  September  2,  1862,  a  Union  ironclad  gunboat,  the  USS  Essex,  sent  a  few  men  ashore 
for  water  and  ice  at  Natchez  only  to  have  them  fired  on  by  hot-headed  members  of  the 
local  militia.  The  Essex  shelled  Natchez  for  several  hours  in  retaliation,  killing  two 
residents  and  setting  several  houses  aflame.  The  Union  water  crew  had  lost  one  dead  and 
five  wounded.  But  no  Federal  troops  claimed  Natchez  until  March  17,  1863,  when  Union 
Cdr.  William  "Dirty  Bill"  Porter  presented  the  town's  officialdom  with  an  ultimatum 


257.  Undated  testimony  in  Lemuel  Parker  Conner  Papers,  Louisiana  State  University,  Baton  Rouge, 
Louisiana;  See  also  Bittersworth,  Confederate  Mississippi,  pp.  161-163.  Other  rumors  of  rebellion  literally 
engulfed  the  Natchez  district,  resulting  in  the  hanging  of  forty  Negroes.  That  so  many  slaves  were  executed 
is  strong  evidence  that  a  major  slave  rebellion  had  occurred.  Historian  Winthrop  Jordan  (in  a  work  not  yet 
reviewed  by  the  author)  is  presently  researching  the  revolutionary  character  of  slave  insurrections  in  the 
district  during  the  war. 

258.  Bittersworth,  "The  Home  Front,"  pp.  492-571;  Minutes  of  the  Meeting  of  the  Mayor  and  Board  of 
Selectmen,  Natchez,  Mississippi,  April  23,  1861;  May  7,  1861;  May  21,  1861;  June  4,  1861;  July  2.  1861;  July 
6,  1861;  February  5,  1862;  City  Hall,  Natchez,  Mississippi. 

259.  C.G.  Dahlgren,  Commandant,  Confederate  Post  Washington,  Mississippi,  to  Brigadier  General  Thomas 
Jordan,  May  17,  1862,  in  The  War  of  the  Rebellion:  A  Compilation  of  the  Official  Records  of  the  Union  and 
Confederate  Armies  (hereafter  cited  as  Official  Records),  (Washington,  D.C.,  1880-1901),  Ser.  1,  Vol.  15:  737- 
38;  "The  Surrender  of  Natchez,  Mississippi,"  The  New  York  Times  May  29,  1862. 

260.  See  unpublished  manuscript  by  Annette  M.  Wilson,  "Natchez  and  the  Civil  War,"  in  author's  possession. 
It  is  also  on  file  at  the  Natchez  Public  Library,  Natchez,  Mississippi. 

145 


demanding  formal  capitulation,  in  response  to  which  the  Mayor  surrendered  the  town  for 
a  second  time.261 

No  formal  action  was  taken  by  Union  forces  to  occupy  Natchez  until  after  the  fall  of 
Vicksburg  to  Maj.  Gen.  Ulysses  S.  Grant's  army  on  July  4,  1863.  Two  weeks  later,  Brig. 
Gen.  T.  E.  G.  Ransom  occupied  the  town  and  found  it  well  stocked  with  sugar,  cotton,  and 
lumber.  Ransom  also  overtook,  a  few  miles  from  Natchez,  5000  Texas  cattle  being  driven 
toward  Confederate  forces  in  the  east.  By  mid-summer  of  1863,  Natchez  was  securely  in 
Union  hands.262 

Almost  immediate  with  its  occupation,  Union  forces  in  Natchez  were  overwhelmed  by  a 
stampede  of  black  refugees  from  the  countryside.  Hundreds  of  district  slaves  had  been  on 
the  run  since  summer  of  1862,  hiding  out  in  the  countryside  as  best  they  could.  Many  had 
fled  the  plantations  to  avoid  being  taken  by  their  masters  deeper  into  the  Confederacy,  to 
Texas  and  Georgia.  Others  had  hid  out  with  their  families,  hoping  to  find  their  way  north. 
But  once  Vicksburg  fell,  the  momentum  became  a  tidal  wave  of  humanity,  much  of  it 
cascading  in  the  direction  of  Natchez. 

General  Ransom  eagerly  sought  orders  on  what  to  do  with  the  refugees:  "I  also  desire  some 
instructions  as  to  what  policy  I  shall  pursue  with  regard  to  the  negroes.  They  flock  in  by 
the  thousands  (about  1  able-bodied  man  to  6  women  and  children).  I  am  feeding  about  500 
and  working  the  able-bodied  men  among  them.  I  can  send  you  any  number  encumbered 
with  families.  I  can  not  take  care  of  them.  They  are  all  anxious  to  go;  they  do  not  know 
where  or  what  for."263 

One  of  General  Grant's  corps  commanders  at  Vicksburg  responded  with  alacrity  if  not 
much  practical  advice: 

With  regard  to  the  contrabands,  you  can  say  to  them  they  are  free,  and  that 
it  will  be  better  for  them,  especially  the  woman  and  children,  old  and  infirm, 
to  remain  quietly  where  they  are,  as  we  have  no  means  of  providing  for 
them  at  present. 

With  regard  to  the  men  who  are  strong,  able-bodied,  [andl  will  make  good 
soldiers,  you  can  bring  them  along  with  you  [to  Vicksburg]  if  they  are 
willing  to  come  and  will  leave  their  families  behind.264 

The  ensuing  sixteen  months  of  war  brought  terrible  suffering  to  the  district's  enslaved 
refugees.  Briefly  told,  the  fall  of  Vicksburg  and  Port  Hudson  broke  the  back  of  the 
Confederacy  by  placing  the  Mississippi  River  firmly  in  Union  hands.  But  though  the  spine 


261.  Ibid.,  Thomas  Reber,  Proud  Old  Natchez,  (Natchez,  Miss.,  19091.  p.  39. 

262.  Brig.  Gen.  Thomas  E.G.  Ransom,  U.S.  Army,  to  Lt.  Col.  W.T.  Clark.  Assistant  to  the  Adjutant-General. 
July  16.  1863.  Official  Records,  Ser.  1,  Vol.  24:  680-681. 

263.  Ibid. 

264.  Lt.  Col.  James  B.  McPherson  to  Brig.  Gen.  Thomas  E.G.  Ransom,  July  17.  1863.  Official  Records.  Ser. 
1.  Vol.  24:    521. 

146 


had  been  severed,  the  various  parts  of  the  Confederate  body  continued  to  resist.  Rebel 
forces,  especially  partisan  units,  held  much  of  the  country  on  either  side  of  the  Mississippi 
River  for  most  of  the  war.  This  meant  that  no  plantation  slave  was  safe  from  being  taken 
into  Texas  or  from  being  killed  on  the  spot  if  thought  to  be  a  Union  supporter.  Also, 
because  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  freed  only  those  slaves  within  Confederate  lines, 
Natchez  slaves,  or  Union  controlled  slaves,  occupied  the  uncertain  status  —  at  least  prior 
to  January  of  1863  —  of  being  contrabands  of  war.  By  summer,  however,  any  slave  who 
had  enlisted  in  the  army  or  had  runaway  to  Natchez  from  behind  Confederate  lines  was 
considered  a  free  person.  But  just  who  was  free  and  who  was  not  was  always  unclear 
because  the  district  was  governed  by  the  vicissitudes  of  war  and  martial  law. 

In  this  uncertain  atmosphere,  the  Union  developed  a  policy  for  dealing  with  refugee  slaves 
that  subordinated  the  welfare  of  the  refugees  to  larger  military  objectives  in  the  region. 
The  policy  involved  three  pivotal  points  of  reference:  leasing  plantations  to  government 
agents  who  would  work  the  freedmen  (as  they  were  called)  on  a  wage  labor  basis;  enlisting 
able-bodied  blacks  as  soldiers  into  "colored  regiments"  that  would  operate  as  home  guards 
protecting,  in  theory,  the  women  and  children  and  elderly  at  work  on  the  plantations;  and 
establishing  black  refugee  camps  in  and  around  Natchez  to  care  for  the  sick,  displaced, 
and  unemployed.265 

If  all  went  according  to  plan,  the  river  plantations  in  the  Natchez  hinterland  would  be 
staffed  by  a  resident  population  of  "freedmen"  who  would  earn  their  keep  by  growing 
cotton.  The  ex-slaves  would  also  learn  valuable  lessons  about  contracts,  wages,  and  work. 
In  time,  the  experience  would  transform  the  workers  into  replicas  of  northern  laborers  — 
men  and  women  ready  and  willing  to  work  long  and  hard  and  well  for  just  wages,  which 
they  could  use  as  the  basis  for  buying  family  farms  and  achieving  middle-class  prosperity. 

Black  soldiers,  moreover,  would  free  the  Union  forces  for  fighting  elsewhere  and  prove,  by 
their  valor,  the  validity  of  their  emancipation.  Able-bodied  blacks,  according  to  the  plan, 
would  be  liberated  from  interior  plantations  by  armed  raiders  —  usually  fellow  black 
soldiers.  Others  would  be  recruited  from  the  refugee  camps  and  near-by  plantations  to 
defend  Natchez  and  to  fight  for  the  freedom  of  their  families  and  friends. 

Refugee  camps  would  operate  as  temporary  shelters  and  employment  agencies  as  much 
as  welfare  centers,  channeling  the  displaced  into  the  army  and  to  jobs  on  the  plantations. 
Northern  schoolmarms,  moreover,  would  be  recruited  to  teach  in  the  camps. 

Tragically,  almost  nothing  that  happened  to  Natchez  blacks  during  the  war  went  according 
to  plan.  The  leased  plantations  were  poorly  managed,  subject  to  Rebel  raids,  and  beset 
with  all  the  horrors  of  a  Civil  War  in  which  approximately  620,000  Americans  would 
eventually  die.  Army  barracks  and  refugee  camps  were  poorly  equipped,  undermanned, 


265.      Davis.  Good  and  Faithful  Labor,  pp.   58-88.     See  also  Edwin  C.  Bearss,  Decision   in   Mississippi: 
Mississippi's  Important  Role  in  the  War  Between  the  States  (Little  Rock,  Ark.,  1962),  pp.  464-494. 

147 


and  overwhelmed  by  sickness,  disease,  and  racism.  It  is  a  wonder  that  any  of  the  black 
participants  in  the  above  ventures  lived  through  them.266 


BREAKING  FAITH  WITH  THE  MASTER 

In  the  months  following  July  of  1863,  Federal  officials  in  the  Mississippi  River  Valley 
launched  an  experiment  in  wage  labor  for  "contraband"  blacks  that  tossed  thousands  of 
district  workers  back-and-forth  among  competing  agencies  in  ways  that  put  a  serious 
blight  upon  the  first  days  of  freedom.  Initially,  from  the  summer  of  1862  to  1863,  the 
Union's  refugee  program  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  directed  by  Col.  John  Eaton,  a  chaplain 
in  the  Fifth  Regiment  of  Grant's  army,  was  little  more  than  an  attempt  to  organize  refugee 
slaves  into  work  companies  to  pick,  gin,  and  bale  ungathered  cotton  on  abandoned 
plantations.  Proceeds  from  the  cotton  would  pay  for  the  rations  consumed  by  the  refugees. 
Once  the  cotton  was  picked,  the  plan  called  for  employing  the  refugees  as  woodchoppers 
and  in  general  fatigue  labor  for  the  army  at  Union  camps  in  order  to  free  white  soldiers 
for  fighting.267 

Blacks  were  required  to  sign  contracts  wherein  they  agreed  to  labor  under  the  direction 
of  army  officers  for  fixed  wages  set  at  subsistence  levels.  All  earnings  were  to  be  channeled 
into  a  general  fund  supporting  the  entire  refugee  camp  or  else  paid  out  in  food  and 
clothing  rations  on  an  individual  basis.  The  conditions  of  work  were  similar  to  those  in 
slavery  —  gang  labor,  overseers,  and  limited  movement  —  except  that  chains  and  whips 
were  essentially  eliminated  as  methods  of  discipline.268 

Although  Eaton  was  able  to  make  a  start  on  some  plantations,  his  program  was  simply 
overwhelmed  by  the  numbers  of  refugees  flocking  to  Union  lines  after  the  fall  of  Vicksburg. 
It  was  in  this  context  that  Washington  appointed  the  Adjutant  General  of  the  U.S.  Army, 
Brig.  Gen.  Lorenzo  Thomas,  to  organize  a  full  scale  refugee  program  in  the  Valley. 
Thomas'  plan  assumed  that  the  refugees  should  bear  the  burden  of  their  upkeep  by 
working  on  abandoned  plantations  leased  to  loyal  whites  willing  to  employ  blacks  for  fixed 
wages.  Provost  marshals  would  oversee  the  general  workings  of  the  program  with  the  full 
authority  of  military  law  at  their  disposal.  Union  patrols  (mainly  black  soldiers)  would 
police  the  plantations  and  protect  them  from  Confederate  raiders.  In  turn,  the  lessees 


266.  Ibid.,  see  also  Bigelow,  "Freedmen  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  1862-1865.''  Civil  War  History,  pp.  38-47; 
J.  Eaton,  Grant,  Lincoln,  and  the  Freedman;  and  Yeatman,  A  Report  on  the  Condition  of  the  Freedmen  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  pp.  1-16. 

267.  Ibid..  Dorothy  Lois  Ellis,  "The  Transition  from  Slave  Labor  to  Free  Labor,  with  Special  Reference  to 
Louisiana,"  (M.A.  thesis,  Louisiana  State  University,  19321,  pp.  1-14;  Bell  Irvin  Wiley.  Southern  Negroes,  1861- 
1865  (New  Haben,  Conn..  1938),  pp.  184-190;  Ulysses  S.  Grant.  Personal  Memoirs  of  U.S.  Grant,  2  Vols.  (New 
York,  NY.,  1885),  1.  pp.  424-26 

268.  Ibid. 

148 


would  hire  black  refugees  for  wages  of  $7  per  month  for  adult  males,  $5  for  women,  and 
$3.50  for  hands  twelve  to  fifteen  years  old.269 

The  program  was  a  disaster  on  all  accounts.  The  full  extent  of  the  debacle  came  to  light 
in  a  report  filed  with  the  U.S.  Treasury  by  James  Yeates  who  had  toured  the  Mississippi 
Valley  as  the  agent  of  the  Western  Sanitary  Commission.  Most  plantations  were  poorly 
protected,  staffed  by  incompetent  ne'er-do-wells  and  corrupt  army  officials,  and  operated 
with  little  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  hired  refugees.  The  white  lessees  usually 
abandoned  the  places  at  the  first  sign  of  trouble  or  else  absconded  with  all  the  profits, 
leaving  the  black  workers  with  scant  rations  and  no  wages.  In  Yeates'  view,  the  crux  of 
the  problem  stemmed  from  leasing  lands  to  speculators  and  northern  capitalists  with  few 
safeguards  built  into  the  system.270 

As  a  result  of  the  charges,  the  Treasury  Department  took  over  the  abandoned  lands 
program  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  assigning  a  special  agent,  William  P.  Mellon,  along  with 
Yeates,  to  overhaul  Thomas'  program.  The  major  revisions  in  the  Treasury  plan  had  to  do 
with  wage  rates  and  speculation.  Briefly,  no  lessee  was  permitted  to  rent  more  than  one 
plantation,  and  wages  were  increased  to  $20-25  for  adult  males,  $18-20  for  adult  woman, 
and  $15  for  teenagers.  Paying  blacks  higher  wages,  it  was  believed,  would  enable  refugees 
to  supply  themselves  and  thereby  break  the  connection  between  suppliers  of  rations  and 
the  lessees  of  plantations.  Moreover,  limiting  leases  to  one  plantation  per  lessee  would 
favor,  it  was  hoped,  the  emergence  of  a  class  of  small  farmers  as  renters.2'1 

General  Thomas,  whose  son  had  leased  several  plantations  in  the  Natchez  district, 
vehemently  opposed  the  Mellon  program,  and  most  lessees,  merchants,  and  loyal  planters 
in  the  area  refused  to  make  contracts  under  the  new  stipulations.  The  dispute  finally 
reached  the  ears  of  President  Abraham  Lincoln  who  returned  the  control  of  all  affairs 
involving  freedmen  to  Thomas,  with  the  understanding  that  Thomas  was  to  work  with 
Eaton  in  reforming  the  inequities  of  the  system.  Among  the  reforms  to  be  implemented 
were  those  regulating  the  prices  of  rations  and  supplies  charged  to  the  workers,  allowing 
hands  to  cultivate  garden  lands  on  their  own  accounts  on  Sundays,  and  eliminating  the 
hire  of  those  "old-time  overseers"  unaccepting  of  the  "new  situation"  existing  between 
workers  and  planters.272 


269.  Ibid.,  General  H.  Halleck  to  General  U.S.  Grant,  U.S.  Army,  March  31,  1963,  Official  Records.  Ser.  1, 
Vol.  24:  156-157;  Special  Order  of  General  Lorenzo  Thomas,  No.  63,  September  29,  1863,  Records  of  the 
Bureau  of  Refugees,  Freedmen,  and  Abandoned  Lands  (hereinafter  cited  as  BRFAL).  Record  Group  752, 
National  Archives,  Washington,  D.C. 

270.  Eaton,  Grant,  Lincoln  and  the  Freedmen,  pp.  142-66;  Davis,  Good  and  Faithful  Labor,  pp.  68-69;  Louis 
Gerteis,  From  Contraband  to  Freedman:  Federal  Policy  Towards  Southern  Blacks,  1861-1865  (Westport, 
Conn.,  1973),  pp.  132-152. 

271.  Ibid. 

272.  General  Lorenzo  Thomas  to  E.M.  Stanton,  February  20,  1864,  Official  Records,  Ser.  3,  Vol.  4:  176-177; 
March  18,  1864,  Records  of  the  Adjutant  General's  Office,  General's  Papers,  Record  Group  94;  L.Thomas  to 
Major  General  W.T.  Sherman,  Commander,  Military  Division  of  Mississippi.  Official  Records,  Ser.  3.  Vol.  4: 
210-211;  L.  Thomas  to  Lieutenant  E.D.  Townsend,  Assistant  Adjutant  General,  U.S.  Army,  Washington.  D.C, 
April  19,  1864.  Official  Records,  Ser.  3,  Vol.  4:  166-170;  Special  Order  No.  9,  General  Lorenzo  Thomas,  March 
11,  1864,  Official  Records  Ser.  3,  Vol.  4:    166-170. 

149 


Much  of  the  new  Thomas  program  retained,  however,  the  basic  wage-labor  ideology  that 
had  shaped  government  policy  from  the  start,  an  ideology  wherein  blacks  were  to  work  as 
"good  and  faithful"  laborers  in  a  tightly  disciplined  environment.  Wages  were  set  at  $10 
per  month  for  adult  males,  $7  for  adult  females,  and  half  the  above  amounts  for  teenagers. 
To  ensure  faithful  work,  wages  would  be  paid  monthly  rather  than  weekly  or  daily,  with 
one-half  the  total  to  be  held  by  the  employer  until  the  season's  end  to  ensure  that  the 
laborers  worked  the  entire  contract  year.  No  "colored  soldiers"  could  visit  the  plantations 
to  see  wives  or  families  without  the  permission  of  the  planter,  and  never  while  bearing 
arms.  And  no  blacks  could  leave  the  plantation  unless  granted  permission  in  writing. 
Contracts  were  made  binding  under  military  law,  and  vagrancy  would  be  punished  by 
putting  the  unemployed  to  work  on  levees  and  roads.273 

Although  flogging  was  forbidden  by  the  new  policy,  disobedience,  insolence,  and  poor 
performance  would  result  in  lost  wages;  or  else  problem  workers  would  be  turned  over  to 
the  provost  marshal  for  labor  on  public  works  without  pay.  District  blacks,  according  to 
Thomas,  were  thus  expected  to  work  much  as  they  had  in  slavery  because  they  were  still 
a  "people  identified  with  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  however  changed  in  condition  by  the 
revolution  through  which  [they  were]  passing."274 

Merchants  and  lessees  readily  embraced  Thomas'  program,  but  it  met  with  little  real 
success  during  the  war  years  due  to  the  inability  of  the  U.S.  Army  to  protect  the 
plantations  from  being  terrorized  by  Rebel  guerrillas.  To  venture  two  miles  outside  of 
Natchez  was  to  be  in  enemy  territory,  and  numerous  planters  simply  refused  to  enter 
contracts  in  the  summer  of  1864  for  fear  of  being  burned  out  by  the  Rebels. 27f 

Across  the  river  in  the  Louisiana  parishes,  the  situation  was  even  worse.  Large  Rebel 
forces  attacked  Vidalia  on  two  separate  occasions  in  September  of  1863  and  in  February 
of  1864,  and  smaller  partisan  forces  raided  Louisiana  plantations  almost  at  will.  The 
monthly  report  of  1st.  Lt.  W.  H.  Megrew,  Assistant  Provost  Marshal  of  Concordia  Parish, 
listed  thirty-seven  government  leased  plantations  at  work  in  June  of  1864  —  employing 
nearly  4000  hands.  Of  those  under  contract,  Rebel  raiders  had  hit  four  in  the  previous 
thirty  days,  burning  gins  and  driving  off  all  the  stock  on  hand;  two  others,  Bekhawk  and 
Balamagan,  were  raided  again  and  again,  four  and  five  times  in  just  over  two  weeks.2' 


273.  Ibid. 

274.  See  Testimony  of  Brigadier  General  James  S.  Wadsworth  before  the  Freedmen's  Inquiry  Commission, 
Records  of  the  Adjutant  General's  Office,  American  Freedmen's  Inquiry  Commission,  June  30,  1863.  National 
Archives,  Washington,  D.C.;  Robert  Dale  Owen,  James  McKaye,  Samuel  G.  Howe,  Commissioners,  The 
American  Freedmen's  Inquiry  Commission,  to  E.M.  Stanton,  June  30,  1863,  Official  Pecords,  Ser.  3,  Vol.  3: 
430-454. 

275.  W.  Burnett,  Asst.  Spec.  Agent  for  Natchez,  to  General  Lorenzo  Thomas,  April  27,  1864,  Records  of  the 
Adjutant  General's  Office,  Colored  Troops  Division,  Record  Group  363,  National  Archives,  Washington,  D.C. 
Burnett  reported  on  the  difficulty  of  working  the  Nevitt  plantation  just  north  of  town.  The  owner  refused  to 
lease  to  a  Northerner  for  fear  of  having  his  buildings  burned  by  rebels. 

276.  Report  of  1st  Lt.  W.H.  Megrew,  Assistant  Provost  Marshal  for  Concordia,  June  19,  1864,  BRFAL,  Record 
Group  105. 

150 


Thomas  Knox,  a  Yankee  lessee  of  two  Concordia  plantations,  reported  with  some  chagrin 
on  the  extent  to  which  the  river  parishes  were  subject  to  guerrilla  raids:277 

For  nearly  three  weeks,  the  guerrillas  had  full  and  free  range  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  leased  plantations.  One  after  another  of  the  lessees  were  driven  to 
seek  refuge  at  Natchez,  and  their  work  entirely  suspended.  The  only 
plantations  undisturbed  were  those  within  a  mile  or  two  of  Vidalia.  As  the 
son  of  Adjutant-General  Thomas  was  interested  in  one  of  these  plantations, 
and  intimate  friends  of  that  official  were  concerned  in  others.  It  was  proper 
that  they  should  be  well  protected.  The  troops  at  Vidalia  were  kept 
constantly  on  the  look-out  to  prevent  raids  on  these  favored  localities. 

Nearly  every  day  I  heard  of  a  fresh  raid  in  our  neighborhood,  though,  after 
the  first  half-dozen  visits,  I  could  not  learn  that  the  guerrillas  carried  away 
anything,  for  the  simple  reason  there  was  nothing  left  to  steal.  Some  of  the 
negroes  remained  at  home,  while  others  fled  to  the  military  posts  for 
protection.  The  robbers  showed  no  disposition  to  maltreat  the  negroes,  and 
repeatedly  assured  them  they  should  not  be  disturbed  as  long  as  they 
remained  on  the  plantations  and  planted  nothing  but  corn.  It  was  declared 
that  cotton  should  not  be  cultivated  under  any  circumstances,  and  the 
negroes  were  threatened  with  the  severest  punishment  if  they  assisted  in 
planting  that  article. 

Even  though  a  garrison  of  black  soldiers  was  stationed  at  Waterproof,  a  small  interior 
town,  they  were  so  ill  equipped  and  uncertain  of  their  mission  as  to  have  been  nearly 
useless  in  combating  the  guerrilla  threat. 

We  did  not  look  upon  the  post  at  Waterproof  as  a  sure  protection.  There  was 
no  cavalry  to  make  the  promised  patrol  between  Waterproof  and  the  post 
below  it,  or  to  hunt  down  any  guerrillas  that  might  come  near.  A  few 
soldiers  were  mounted  on  mules  and  horses  taken  from  the  vicinity,  but 
they  were  not  effective  for  rapid  movements.  It  was  understood,  and  semi- 
officially announced,  that  the  post  was  established  for  the  protection  of 
government  plantations.  The  commandant  assured  me  he  had  no  orders  to 
that  effect.  He  was  placed  there  to  defend  the  post  and  nothing  else.  We 
were  welcome  to  any  protection  his  presence  afforded,  but  he  could  not  go 
outside  the  limits  of  the  town  to  make  any  effort  in  our  behalf.2 

Knox  continued  to  work  his  two  leased  plantations  as  well  as  he  could  until  a  band  of 
thirty  Rebels  tortured  and  killed  his  overseer,  abducted  nineteen  of  his  hands,  and  made 
off  with  twenty-four  mules  and  horses.  Finally  broken  by  the  raids,  and  frightened  for  his 
life,  Knox  paid  off  the  remaining  141  black  workers  on  the  place  and  abandoned  all  efforts 
at  making  a  crop.  Some  of  Knox's  wage  hands  then  went  to  Natchez.  Some  went  to  the 
contraband  camp  at  Davis  Bend.  Others  hired  themselves  out  to  those  district  lessees  still 


277.  Knox,  Camp-Fire  and  Cotton  Field,  pp.  423-424. 

278.  Ibid,  p.  441. 

151 


foolhardy  enough  to  stay  in  business.  Only  a  few  of  the  original  work  group  stayed  on  the 
plantations,  growing  corn  and  garden  vegetables  in  order  to  survive.279 

So  dangerous  was  the  situation  by  the  end  of  1864,  that  some  planters  began  recruiting 
private  armies  from  among  the  ex-slaves.280  Major  Gen.  E.  R.  S  Canby,  Commander  of 
the  Military  Division  of  West  Mississippi,  urged  the  War  Department  to  give  up  on  the 
idea  of  leasing  lands  altogether.  He  suggested  in  its  place  a  system  of  colonies  in  which 
the  refugees  would  be  given  plots  of  land  to  farm  while  living  together  in  armed  camps 
provisioned  by  the  U.S.  government.  Canby  saw  in  this  colonial  scheme  the  best  hope  of 
eliminating  fraudulent  speculators  from  the  district  while  providing  an  adequate  defense 
of  the  refugees.  Needless  to  say,  his  plan  was  never  implemented.281 


279.  Ibid.,  p.  448.  "Three  days  later  we  abandoned  the  plantation.  We  paid  the  negroes  for  the  work  they 
had  done,  and  discharged  them  from  further  service.  Those  that  lived  on  the  plantation  previous  to  our  going 
there,  generally  remained,  as  the  guerrillas  had  assured  them  they  would  be  unmolested  if  they  cultivated  no 
cotton.  A  few  of  them  went  to  Natchez,  to  live  near  their  "missus."  Those  whom  we  had  hired  from  other 
localities  scattered  in  various  directions." 

280.  Special  Order  No.  13,  Lt.  Col.  C.S.  Christenson,  Assistant  Adjutant  General,  December  14.  1864, 
BRAFL,  Record  Group  752,  National  Archives,  Washington,  D.C. 

281.  Maj.  Gen.  E.R.S.  Canby,  Headquarters  of  Division  of  West  Mississippi,  to  E.W.  Stanton,  December  6, 
1864,  Official  Records,  Ser.  1,  Vol.  48:   441-443. 

The  course  that  seems  best  calculated  to  work  good  results  is  that  of 

subdividing  the  plantations  and  thus  multiplying  the  interests  connected 

with  them  for  the  purpose  of  attracting  an  active,  enterprising,  and  arms 

bearing  population,  and  the  establishment  of  a  system  of  military  colonies 

capable    of   protecting   themselves    against    anything   except    organized 

invasion.    The  colonists  should  be  put  into  military  organizations,  armed 

and  equipped  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States,  and  mustered  into  its 

service   for   the   special    duty   of  preserving   order   and    protecting   the 

plantations  from  raids  and  protecting  the  approaches  from  the  districts 

under  the  control  of  the  rebels.   It  is  necessary  that  they  be  mustered  into 

the  service  in  order  to  subject  them  to  military  control  and  to  secure  proper 

treatment  for  them  if  they  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.   When 

employed  in  the  protection  of  private  interests,  they  should  receive  no  pay, 

but  if  called  upon  to  resist  an  invasion  they  should  be  placed  on  the  same 

footing  with  other  troops.   To  guard  against  the  plantations  becoming  the 

center  of  unlawful   trade  with  the  enemy,   and  to  secure  the  negroes 

employed  on  them  from  the  danger  of  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy 

and  being  reduced  to  a  state  of  slavery,  no  leases  should  be  given  for  any 

plantation  that  is  beyond  the  reach  of  military  supervision  and  protection, 

except  in  cases  where  the  lessees  are  able  to  maintain  a  force  to  protect 

themselves  from  raids,  and  hold  them  until  they  can  be  relieved. 

A  major  bone  of  contention  that  dominated  policy  disputes  regarding  abandoned  lands  had  to  do  with 

the  role  of  speculators  and  suppliers.    A  veritable  horde  of  Yankee  speculators  descended  on  the  district  in 

1863  and  1864.    A  careful  reading  of  the  trade  permits  issued  by  Thomas  turns  up  between  fifty  to  eighty 

individuals  licensed  to  carry  on  trade  with  the  plantations.  Many  of  these  traders  established  stores  in  Vidalia 

and  Waterproof,  Louisiana,  and  at  Natchez  and  Washington,  Mississippi,  where  they  did  a  business  in  supplies 

ranging  from  a  few  hundred  dollars  to  $5000.    Black  workers  would  trade  through  the  stores  on  the  basis  of 

wages  to  be  paid  when  the  crops  were  harvested  at  the  end  of  the  year,  thus  trying  up  their  earnings  at  high 

interest  rates  for  provisions  above  their  normal  rations.     Many  of  these  stores  were  run  by  antebellum 

merchants  in  Natchez  who  secured  permits  after  swearing  their  loyalty  to  the  Union.     But  most  of  the 

merchants  were  Yankee  newcomers  to  the  area.  There  is  good  evidence  to  suggest  that  these  traders  also  dealt 

with  stolen  goods  brought  in  by  Confederate  partisans.     In  any  case,  much  of  the  criticism  surrounding 

152 


Important  as  the  various  government  plans  were  for  handling  the  district's  freedmen,  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  thousands  of  district  blacks  survived  the  full  duration  of  the 
war  by  avoiding  government-leased  plantations  and  the  refugee  camps  at  Natchez.  Most 
of  these  ex-slaves  subsisted  by  growing  corn  and  garden  vegetables  and  by  hunting  and 
fishing.  A  report  by  Col.  Samuel  Thomas  in  the  summer  of  1864  noted  that  "there  are  a 
number  of  freedmen  on  nearly  every  plantation  in  the  district,  whether  it  be  abandoned 
or  not,  as  they  manage  to  raise  a  little  garden  and  live  on  what  may  be  left  by  their  former 
masters."  Just  how  those  freedmen  on  the  more  isolated  plantations  managed,  however, 
to  avoid  being  hauled  off  to  slavery  is  unclear.  Most  of  them  survived  simply  by  hiding  in 
the  woods  and  by  keeping  their  eyes  open  for  Rebel  forces.  Some  freedmen,  on  the  other 
hand,  appear  to  have  passively  cooperated  with  local  Rebels  by  growing  corn  and  food 
crops,  which  could  be  confiscated  by  guerrilla  forces.282 

The  attraction  of  working  on  government  plantations  was  largely  in  the  safety  they 
provided  and  the  opportunity  of  trying  something  new  and  exciting.  But  the  few  thousand 
blacks  who  tried  the  experiment  of  wage  labor  on  the  leased  plantations  were  greatly 
discouraged  by  what  they  found.  For  one  thing,  the  system  was  too  much  like  slavery.  The 
diary  of  one  district  planter,  the  Union  loyalist  William  Minor,  reveals  just  how 
desperately  he  had  tried  to  hold  onto  the  past.28c 


Overseer  Rules,  1861 

1.  Overseer  must  treat  negroes  with  kindness  and  humanity.  When  sick  see  that 
they  have  any  necessary  attention  &  that  doc's  directions  are  adhered  to. 

2.  See  that  all  hands  are  at  work  as  soon  as  they  can  be  —  give  particular 
attention  to  hands  in  the  field. 

3.  Must  not  strike  Negroes  with  anything  but  his  whip,  except  in  self-defense  — 
Must  not  cut  the  skin  when  punishing  —  not  use  abusive  language  as  it 
makes  them  unhappy  and  sometimes  to  run  away. 

4.  Examine  quarters  after  ringing  of  the  bell  to  see  if  Negroes  are  all  at  home  at 
night.  Require  drivers  to  report  absentees  every  morning. 

5.  Retire  to  cabins  by  9:15. 

6.  Negroes  can't  leave  without  permit 

7.  Not  allow  negroes  to  beat  wives. 

8.  Divorce  and  remarriage  requires  25  lashes   —   month's  notice  for  divorce. 

9.  Keep  record  of  quantity  and  condition  of  stock. 

10.  Do  not  allow  the  negroes  to  swear,  do  anything  disrespectful,  make  noise  in 
quarter,  nor  talk  loudly  while  at  work,  nor  allow  querling  or  fighting  among  the 
people. 

11.  Do  not  allow  negroes  to  keep  or  use  spirituous  liqueurs 


Thomas's  administration  of  the  abandoned  lands  was  in  reference  to  his  encouragement  of  speculators  and 
traders  of  less  than  sterling  character.  See  Miscellaneous  Trade  Permits  and  Associated  Papers  and 
Correspondence,  Office  of  the  Adjutant  General,  Colored  Troops  Division,  Record  Group  363.  National 
Archives,  Washington,  D.C. 

282.  Col.  Samuel  Thomas  to  Brig.  Gen.  Lorenzo  Thomas,  June  15,  1864,  Office  of  the  Adjutant  General, 
Colored  Troops  Division,  Record  Group  363,  National  Archives,  Washington,    DC. 

283.  Dairy  of  William  J.  Minor,  1861-1865,  William  J.  Minor  Papers,  LSU,  Baton  Rouge,  Louisiana. 

153 


12.  See  that  rations  are  properly  delivered. 

13.  Visit  stable  every  day  at  12:00  and  at  night. 

Note  —  Negroes  are  in  the  habit  of  regulating  the  depth  of  the  plow  by  the 

back  band,  thereby  nearly  throwing  the  whole  weight  of  the  draft  on  the  back 
of  the  animal  working  —  they  are  also  fond  of  running  up  on  the  heels  of  the 
animals  in  such  manner  as  to  prevent  them  from  throwing  their  weight  into  the 
collar. 

14.  See  that  the  houses  and  quarters  are  cleaned  up  once  a  week  —  especially  the 
back  yards. 

15.  See  that  the  negroes  dress  clean  every  Sunday. 

16.  Do  not  allow  mechanics  to  make  or  sell  any  of  their  own  work  without 
permission 

17.  Do  not  allow  the  mechanics  to  strike  or  mistreat  the  hands  put  under  him. 

18.  When  necessary  to  punish  he  will  inflict  it  in  a  serious,  firm,  and  gentlemanly 
manner. 

19.  Farming  utinsels  are  regularly  put  away  and  in  order. 

20.  He  will  see  that  all  the  ditches  drain  well  &  he  will  not  work  them  as  he  works 
the  crop  to  keep  them  clear  all  year. 

21.  He  must  not  allow  the  negroes  to  use  the  horsed,  carts  or  wagons  with  out 
specific  permission  —  neither  must  he  allow  the  hands  to  ride  to  and  from  the 
fields  in  the  carts.  When  they  may  happen  to  be  going  or  coming  at  the  same 
time,  serious  accidents  have  occurred  from  this  habit. 

22.  Record  all  births  and  deaths. 

23.  Record  all  receipts  and  shipments. 

24.  Keep  accurate  plantation  books 

25.  See  that  seamstress  makes  the  cloths  strong  and  neat. 

26.  Preserve  all  manure. 

27.  Never  leave  the  plantation. 


Directions  to  Overseer  :  1863-1865 

June  4,  1863. 

1.  Endeavor  to  get  the  hands  out  at  daylight 

2.  Negroes  must  not  be  allowed  to  travel  through  the  place  nor  come  onto 
the  place  without  papers. 

3.  Negroes  must  not  bring  stock  onto  the  place. 

4.  When  hands  fail  to  work,  rations  must  be  stopped. 

5.  Negroes  cannot  ride  mules  and  horses  on  the  place  at  any  time. 

September  1,  1863. 

Each  full  grown  hand  must  be  given  3  and  1/2  lbs  of  pork  or  bacon  a  week  in  1/2 
lbs  a  day  and  as  much  bread  &  molasses  as  they  car.  eat.  Also  vegetable  of  the  season 
—  as  many  as  they  can  eat  —  also  the  usual  ration  of  sugar  —  which,  as  well  as  the 
molasses,  must  be  given  out  every  week  instead  of  once  in  two  weeks  as  heretofore. 
Smaller  hands  must  be  given  in  proportion. 

But  every  negro  who  fails  to  do  his  share  of  work  no  matter  what  the  cause  is, 
must  have  1/2  a  pound  of  meat  deducted  for  each  day  lost  from  his  or  her  ration  of  meat 
&  deducted  from  all  other  articles  in  proportion  to  the  next  ration.  Until  the  whole  of  the 
previous  ration  is  take  out  of  the  next.  If  this  plan  does  not  answer  you  will  have  to  give 


154 


out  the  rations  every  night  &  give  to  those  who  have  worked  during  the  day  in 
proportion  to  the  work  done. 

February  22,  1864. 

Working  under  general  orders  No.  23,  the  greater  portion  of  my  negroes  have 
agreed  in  presence  of  Mr.  Daniel  Turner  to  work  for  12  months  under  the  above  order 
—  they  must  be  required  to  do  so  —  that  is  nine  hours  a  day  in  the  winter  and  10 
hours  a  day  in  other  months.  All  lost  time  no  matter  whom  or  what  cause  must  be 
deducted  &  and  they  must  be  credited  only  with  the  time  they  do  actually  work. 

If  the  forfeiture  of  wages  does  not  make  them  work,  their  rations  of  all  kinds 
must  be  stopped  &  if  that  does  not  make  them  work  than  they  must  be  put  off  the  place. 

May  23,  1864. 

Not  more  than  1/2  a  dollar  must  be  paid  a  month  to  any  negro  who  owes  me 
work.  Credit  him  with  the  balance  of  his  monthly  pay. 

All  workers  must  work  10  hrs  a  day  —  the  time  necessary  to  go  to  and  from 
their  work  is  not  to  be  counted  —  all  those  who  do  not  work  the  full  10  hrs  must  be 
docked  1/4  of  a  day. 

All  workers  disobeying  orders  may  be  docked  from  1/4  of  a  day  to  a  week 
depending  on  the  importance  of  the  orders  given. 

June  28,  1864. 

Married  women  who  can  but  will  not  work  must  be  supplied  with  rations  and 
their  husbands  must  be  charged  with  them. 

March  14,  1865. 

Men  whose  wives  or  mother  or  sisters  are  allowed  to  remain  on  the  place  with 

out  working,  must  be  charged  board  house  room  &  fuel  for  the  wives  and  relatives 

1/3  a  month  for  fuel  —  for  a  room  and  rations  at  the  current  rate. 

Hands  docked  for  time  under  10  hrs  a  day  not  credited  for  time  over  10  hrs.  The 
first  morning  bell  must  ring  at  5.  am,  the  2ed  bell  to  ring  at  6:30  am  —  the  3rd  bell 
must  ring  at  7  am.,  at  which  time  all  hands  must  be  at  work  or  docked  1/4  day.  -  -  at 
12:00  bell  will  ring  for  dinner,  at  1:00  pm  it  will  ring  to  turn  out,  and  at  1:30  pm  it  will 
ring  when  all  hands  must  be  at  work  or  docked  1/4  day's  pay.  —  Stopping  bell  rings  at 
6:30  pm. 

March  31,  1865. 

The  overseer  and  drivers  must  be  close  up  with  the  hands  all  the  time  while  they 
are  at  work.  With  most  care  must  be  taken  in  dropping  the  seed  to  have  it  all  along  the 

isle &  yet  not  waste  the  seed   —   If  one  dropper  for  each  opener  is  not  sufficient 

start  one  or  two  more  according  to  the  number  of  openers;  So  as  not  to  have  the  sowers 

of  seed harmed,  those  sowers  must  be  closely  watched  and  those  that  do  not  do  well 

must  be  changed  at  once. 


155 


April  16,  1865. 

None  but  the  regular  teamsters  must  ever  use  a  team.  The  team  must  not  be 
used  by  the  negroes  except  on  Sat  afternoon  —  the  regular  teamsters  must  be  paid  by 
the  other  negroes  for  hauling. 

Negroes  who  have  left  the  place  must  not  be  allowed  to  come  on  the  place 
without  papers  &  only  on  Sat.  afternoons  and  Sundays  —  unless  in  case  of  sickness. 

Except  for  the  fact  that  wages  had  replaced  the  whip  as  the  main  incentive  for  working, 
very  little  else  had  changed.  Minor  still  wanted  his  hands  in  the  field  from  sunup  to 
sundown,  still  insisted  on  gang  labor  supervised  by  an  overseer,  and  still  tried  to  operate 
his  plantation  as  if  it  were  a  closed  camp.  There  is  more  to  these  reforms,  however,  than 
appears  at  first  glance.  Minor  could  no  longer  dictate  what  his  hands  would  wear,  when 
they  would  "dress  up,"  whether  or  not  they  could  divorce  or  remarry,  or  at  what  hours  they 
were  to  sleep  at  night.  The  most  he  could  do  was  try  to  use  wages  to  enforce  a  labor 
routine  that  he  hoped  would  make  a  crop  under  new  and  trying  conditions. 

Few  district  blacks  tolerated  such  strictures  as  Minor  had  hoped  to  establish.  In  a  diary 
entry  in  early  1863,  Minor  reports  that  his  ex-slaves  were  completely  out  of  control:  "they 
are  practically  free,  going  and  coming  and  working  when  they  please  and  as  they  please. 
They  destroy  everything  on  the  plantation  —  In  one  night  lost  30  hogs.  They  ride  the 
mules  off  at  all  times."284 

Such  sentiments  were  echoed  again  and  again  by  Natchez  district  planters  unable  to 
enforce  strict  rules  of  discipline  on  their  former  slaves.  Wilmer  Shields,  long  time  manager 
of  several  Natchez  area  plantations  owned  by  William  Mercer,  was  nearly  beside  himself 
with  the  new  character  exhibited  by  even  his  most  trusted  former  slaves.  Excerpts  from 
his  correspondence  are  worth  noting  at  length:285 

December  11,  1863. 

Cesar  has  already  notified  me  of  his  intention  to  go  to  N.  0.  —  he  will  return 
he  says  —  but  I  am  sure  his  wish  is  to  make  preparations  to  carry  off  his  family.  I  do 
not  expect  to  have  a  single  servant  here  [Laurel  Hill  plantation)  ten  days  after  Johnson 
leaves 

I  am  now  harried.  .  .  .  Ellen  alone  is  faithful  —  but  of  course  will  yield  to 
Cesar's  influences. 

You  can  form  no  idea  of  my  situation  and  anxiety  of  my  mind.  All  is  anarchy  and 
confusion  here.  Everything  is  going  to  destruction  and  the  negroes  on  the  plantations 
insubordinate.  My  life  has  been  several  times  in  danger. 

January  25,  1865. 

Everything  here  [Laurel  Hilll,  as  you  can  well  imagine,  is  in  confusion.  I  have 
no  longer  any  hope.  Our  cruel  enemy  has  determined  on  our  will  here  at  least.  Their 
continued  visits  will  soon  complete  the  destruction  of  the  plantations.  They  are  now 


284.  Ibid.,  January  2,  1863. 

285.  Wilmer  Shields  to  William  Mercer,  William  Newton  Mercer  Papers.  LSU,  Raton  Rouge.  Louisiana. 

156 


gathering  the  remnant  of  the  cattle  and  negro  men.  Now  they  propose  to  take  the  able- 
bodied  women. 

.  .  .  Add  to  this  the  outrageous  conduct  of  the  negroes  who  will  not  work  for  love 
or  money  —  but  who  steal  everything  they  can  lay  their  hands  on,  and  you  form  some 
idea  of  our  situation  here. 

I  am  trying  now  to  pick  a  little  cotton,  and  have  offered  50  cents  per  hundred. 
But  alas  I  fear  that  will  fail.  They  will  not  work.  They  go  out  about  10  or  11  o'clock  pick 
25  or  30  lbs  and  return  to  their  quarters,  stealing  fence  boards  &  and  even  portions  of 
their  houses  with  which  to  make  fires  to  warm  themselves  and  cook  the  hogs  and  beef 
they  may  have  killed  during  the  day. 

June  10,  1865. 

List  of  adult  Negroes  who  have  remained  on  the  plantations 


Ormonde 

Laurel  Hill 

Buckhurst 

Elliscliffe 

Perfectly  Faithful               64 

5 

6 

1 

Comparatively  Faithful     16 

2 

5 

7 

Behaved  Badly,  Out- 
rageously                      37 

0 

34 

29 

Children                              39 

6 

49 

64 

"Nearly    all    the    negroes    on    this    list    have    been    away    and 
returned  —  some  of  them  half  a  dozen  times." 


Being  faithful  meant  different  things  to  different  people  in  the  district.  For  blacks  working 
on  leased  plantations,  the  contractual  arrangements  were  just  pieces  of  paper  which 
enabled  them  to  earn  some  money  while  the  war  waged  all  around  them.  Although  it  is 
impossible  to  know  what  was  perceived,  it  is  unlikely  that  few  blacks  saw  the  arrangement 
as  anything  but  a  temporary  phase  between  slavery  and  freedom. 

Regardless  of  how  the  contracts  were  understood  by  the  involved  parties,  only  a  small 
portion  of  the  hinterland  population  worked  as  refugee  slaves  on  the  government  leased 
plantations.  Perhaps  the  small  numbers  reflect  the  few  plantations  that  could  be  safely 
worked.  Or  perhaps  it  was  just  that  the  majority  of  freedmen  were  unwilling  to  work  on 
terms  that  resembled  the  basic  organizational  look  of  slavery.  Table  10  below  sets  out 
information  drawn  from  numerous  provost-marshal  reports  for  the  years  1864  and  1865. 

For  the  several  hundred  slaves  at  work  on  the  fourteen  Concordia  plantations  listed  below, 
their  efforts  —  what  with  the  wage  deductions  for  time  lost  —  probably  brought  them  little 
more  than  what  workers  were  paid  on  the  Carthage  place  in  Adams  County.  Indeed,  more 
than  half  the  slaves  on  Carthage  received  less  than  the  $11.08  cited  as  the  average  wage. 
The  low  wages  stemmed  partly  from  the  high  rates  charged  for  provisions  but  also  because 
the  freedmen  simply  refused  to  work  like  slaves  once  they  were  free  to  do  as  they  wished. 
And  every  infraction  of  time  and  labor  was  noted  as  time  lost.  J.  T.  Evans,  lessee  of  Glen 


157 


Aubin  plantation  in  Adams  County,  noted  with  great  disgruntlement  in  his  reports  to  the 
Provost  Marshal  just  how  difficult  it  was  to  work  hands  under  the  new  conditions. 

I  have  further  to  report  that  the  laborers  of  this  plantation  have  been  doing 
short  work.  With  the  exception  of  three,  none  of  the  laborers  want  to  work 
at  the  appointed  hour,  either  morning  or  afternoon.  When  in  the  field  the 
majority  of  them  idle  away  their  time.  Compared  with  the  work  which  was 
done  on  this  plantation  under  a  compulsory  system,  three  laborers  do  now 
hardly  as  much  as  one  did  them  —  Besides  idling  away  their  time  in  the 
field,  some  feign  sickness,  and  lay  up  for  whole  days,  others  absent 
themselves  for  the  greater  portion  of  the  day  attending  to  their  own 
affairs.286 


286.     J.T.  Evans.  Lessee,  Glen  Aubin  Plantations,  Monthly  Report,  May,  1865.  BFAL,  Record  Croup  105, 
National  Archives,  Washington,  D.C. 

158 


Table  10.    Provost  Marshal  Reports 


Freedmen       Registered  Working  Dependents     Infirms 


Concordia 

(12,  31.  65) 
Adams 

15,000 

2,300 

2,298 

534 

5 

(12,  31,  65) 

13,200 

7,462 

2,118 

341 

2,260 

Concordia  Parish 


Plantations 

Lucernia 

Z.  O'Brien 

Toconia 

Fletcher/York 

Moro 

Scotland 

St.  Genevia 

Sycamore 

Helena 

Minocia 

Roseland 

Forest  Home 

Balmagan 

Deer  Park 

Potowomat 

Pittsfield 

Palo  Alto 

Sahara 


Workers 

121 

59 
147 

59 
105 

97 

91 
206 
111 
164 
107 
144 
124 
140 
171 
160 
163 
112 


Males 

36 

5 

30 

18 
31 

14 
20 
59 
22 

47 
40 
41 
33 
35 
45 
48 
39 
35 


females 

Children 

40 

25 

21 

28 

49 

50 

19 

16 

34 

26 

50 

20 

43 

L5 

60 

41 

40 

41 

50 

59 

51 

15 

59 

39 

37 

49 

70 

30 

61 

50 

76 

36 

78 

46 

40 

47 

Infirm 

20 

5 
18 

6 

14 
18 
13 

40 

8 

8 

1 

5 

7 

5 
15 

o 

0 

0 


Total 


2,287 


598 


878 


623 


177 


Percent 


26% 


38% 


27% 


87r 


Work  Stoppages  on  Carthage  Plantation  in  Adams  County 
January,  February,  and  March,  1865 


Workers 

47 


Day  Lost 
862 


Average  Wages  Received  After  Deductions 
$11.08 


Source:  Provost  Marshal  Reports,  BRFAL,  Record  Group  105,  National  Archives. 


159 


Most  provost  marshal  reports  told  a  similar  story.  Lt.  Benjamin  F.  Cherry,  Assistant 
Provost  Marshal  stationed  at  Vidalia,  spent  a  good  portion  of  his  time  trying  to  mediate 
disputes  between  freedmen  and  their  overseers.  At  one  plantation  the  freedmen  refused 
to  labor  as  directed  and  had  taken  the  mules  to  work  for  themselves.  "I  went  with  him  [the 
overseerl  to  the  plantation  and  found  the  hands  lounging  about  their  quarters.  They  were 
dissatisfied  by  the  non  payment  of  half  their  monthly  wages."  At  another  plantation, 
Lieutenant  Cherry  had  to  settle  a  dispute  between  the  overseer  and  two  black  families 
who  had  taken  the  overseer's  house  as  their  own.287 

What  freedmen  wanted  most  was  time  not  wages,  freedom  to  attend  to  their  own  affairs 
when  the  need  arose,  freedom  to  come  and  go  as  they  wished  to  come  and  go,  and  a  place 
to  live  while  biding  their  time  until  the  war's  end  would  bring  about  the  fundamental 
changes  they  expected  to  be  close  at  hand.  One  old  time  planter  in  the  district,  James 
Gillespie,  understanding  how  much  the  freedmen  wanted  to  work  for  themselves,  struck 
a  deal  with  former  slaves  on  his  Hollywood  plantation  in  Adams  County. 

I  have  hired  Ruben,  Maria,  Lewis,  Henrietta,  Liz,  Henry,  Stephen,  Sarah, 
Sophia,  Adams,  Fanny,  Eliza  and  Dembo  to  work  for  me  until  25th  of 
December,  1865  on  the  following  terms:  they  will  work  four  days  each  week 
for  me  and  do  all  and  any  kind  of  labor  I  may  wish  to  be  done  or  require  of 
them  faithfully  and  true,  and  take  care  of  my  property  of  all  kinds  on  the 
place  &  study  my  interests  in  all  things,  preserve  good  order  in  the  quarters 
and  elsewhere  for  which  services  well  and  faithfully  done.  I  agree  to  feed 
them  in  the  usual  manner  (except  molasses).  I  am  not  to  furnish  any 
clothing  or  pay  Dr.  bills  for  them.  In  consideration  of  said  services  I  will 
allow  them  two  days  in  each  week,  that  is  Friday  &  Saturday,  to  work  for 
themselves  &  give  them  land  &  teams  to  work  the  same  &  to  plant  what 
crops  they  may  please  to  do.  I  will  assist  them  to  sell  &  get  to  market  their 
crops  as  much  as  I  can. 

Should  any  of  the  above  named  negroes  leave  or  go  off  before  the  25 
December  next,  they  forfeit  their  crops  &  all  interest.  When  any  one  fails  to 
work  &  do  the  duty  of  faithful  hands  I  am  at  liberty  to  discharge  them.  It 
is  hereby  fully  understood  &  agreed  to  that  I  do  not  hire  any  one  for  a 
particular  work  but  they  are  to  do  any  work  I  may  require  and  that  any  loss 
of  time  by  sickness  or  other  causes  is  their  loss  not  mine  and  they  shall 
make  good  by  work  for  me  or  their  rations  while  sick  and  absent  will  be 
deducted.288 

But  such  arrangements  were  few  and  not  very  workable.  Planters  had  no  way  of  enforcing 
discipline,  no  way  of  protecting  their  places  from  Rebel  raiders,  and  no  way  of  coercing 
freedmen  to  work  after  1863.  The  end  result  was  that  only  a  handful  of  district  plantations 
were  in  operation  at  the  end  of  the  war,  and  most  of  those  were  not  likely  to  start  up 


287.  Lt.  Benjamin  F.  Cherry,  Assistant  Provost  Marshal.  Vidalia,  to  Gen.  Lorenzo  Thomas.  May  5.  1864, 
BFAL,  Record  Group  105,  National  Archives,  Washington,  D.C. 

288.  James  A.  Gillespie,  Contract  With  Labor  For  Hollywood  Plantation,  January  4,  1864,  James  A.  Gillespie 
Papers,  LSU,  Baton  Rouge,  Louisiana. 

160 


again  unless  drastic  changes  could  be  made  in  the  terms  of  contract.  In  September  of  1865, 
the  provost  marshal  for  the  district  predicted  that  the  coming  year  would  see  non-violent 
defiance  of  the  contracting  system  by  the  freedmen: 

The  feeling  and  opinion  among  the  Negroes  throughout  this  District  is 
almost  unanimous  on  one  point,  viz:  they  will  remain  this  year  on  their  old 
places,  for  support  and  for  such  remuneration  as  the  crops  raised  can  give 
them,  but  next  year  they  will  leave  and  make  other  arrangements.  They  say 
that  they  have  tried  their  old  masters,  know  what  They  require  and  how 
they  will  be  treated,  and  that  as  they  are  now  free,  they  will  try  some  other 
place,  and  some  other  way  of  working. 

They  take  this  view  not  because  they  are  tired  of  work,  or  because  they 
want  to  be  idle,  but  because  they  are  free,  and  want  to  find  out  in  what 
their  freedom  exists.289 


SOLDIERS  AND  REFUGEES 

If  the  Natchez  hinterland  was  a  no-man's-land  for  most  of  the  war,  the  town  itself  was  an 
armed  camp.  At  no  time  after  Union  occupation  in  the  summer  of  1863  was  Natchez, 
isolated  as  it  was  without  rail  connections,  seriously  threatened  by  Rebel  attack.  The 
Union  used  Natchez  as  a  refugee  camp  for  freedmen,  as  a  garrison  for  black  soldiers,  and 
as  a  stopping  point  on  the  river  between  Memphis  and  New  Orleans.  Daily  life  for  blacks 
and  whites  alike  was  largely  taken  up  with  accommodating  5000  Union  soldiers  and 
thousands  of  refugee  blacks.  No  resident  of  the  place  escaped  the  general  chaos  and 
disruption  that  engulfed  the  community.  Private  houses  were  taken  over  as  officers 
quarters,  barracks  for  enlisted  men,  and  supply  depots.  Hotels  became  hospitals  and 
refugee  shelters.  The  town's  two  hospitals  overflowed  with  the  sick  and  dying,  as  did  local 
orphan  asylums.  Churches  held  Yankee  worshippers  and  were  forced  to  conduct  services 
in  line  with  Yankee  expressions  of  loyalty  —  including  prayers  for  President  Lincoln. 
Property  was  confiscated  wholesale  —  whether  it  be  silk  curtains  or  carriages  —  and  few 
white  residents  knew  what  to  make  of  the  revolutionary  changes  that  had  overtaken  their 
lives.290 

Of  the  5000  soldiers  stationed  at  Natchez  in  the  summer  of  1864,  3150  were  black.291 
Most  of  them  had  been  recruited  at  Natchez  in  the  previous  twelve  months.  The  Union's 
recruitment  policy  was  direct  and  practical.  All  able-bodied  black  males  coming  into 
Natchez  as  refugees  were  given  the  options  of  being  put  to  work  on  fortifications,  hired  out 
as  plantation  laborers  on  abandoned  plantations,  or  else  recruited  by  the  U.S.  army  as 


289.  Maj.  Gen.  George  D.  Reynolds,  Acting  Assistant  Commissioner,  Bureau  of  Freedmen  for  Southern 
District  of  Mississippi,  to  Maj.  Gen.  Carl  Schurz,  September  26,  1865,  BFAL,  Record  Group  105. 

290.  A  good  description  of  war-time  Natchez  can  be  found  in  Matilda  Gresham,  Life  of  Walter  Quintin 
Gresham:    1832-1893  (Chicago,  111.,  1919),  pp.  239-264. 

291.  Maj.  C.T.  Christenson,  Assistant  Adjutant  General,  Division  of  West  Mississippi,  to  Maj.  Gen.  N.J.T. 
Dana,  July  20,  1864,  Official  Records,  Ser.  1,  Vol.  39:    185. 

161 


soldiers.292  The  Emancipation  Proclamation  issued  by  Lincoln  on  January  1,  1863,  also 
authorized  the  recruitment  of  "colored  regiments"  as  regular  troops  in  the  U.S.  Army.293 
Some  black  militia  units  had  been  operating  in  Louisiana  prior  to  official  policy,  but  none 
were  located  anywhere  near  Natchez.294  In  any  case,  within  one  year,  four  regiments 
of  black  soldiers  were  garrisoned  at  the  town:  The  Sixth  Regiment  of  U.S.  Colored  Artillery 
and  the  Fifty-Eighth,  Sixty-Third,  and  Seventieth  Regiments  of  the  U.S.  Colored 
Infantry.295 

These  four  regiments,  posted  at  Natchez  for  the  duration  of  the  war,  shouldered  the  duty 
of  securing  the  town  and  its  river  hinterland,  building  Fort  McPherson  in  Natchez,  and 
keeping  the  peace  among  the  town's  white  and  black  residents.  Most  of  the  winter  of  1863 
and  1864  was  devoted  to  recruiting  black  soldiers  from  the  refugee  camps  and  plantations 
in  the  district.  Each  regiment  was  officered  by  a  white  staff  of  volunteers  from  the  regular 
army  who  saw  working  with  colored  troops  as  an  opportunity  for  advancement  or  as  a 
responsibility  to  which  they  were  bound  by  a  sense  of  moral  duty.  The  officer  component 
usually  consisted  of  one  colonel,  one  lieutenant  colonel,  one  major,  between  eight  and  ten 
captains  (one  for  each  company),  eight  to  twelve  first  lieutenants,  six  to  eight  second 
lieutenants,  one  to  three  surgeons,  and  one  chaplain.296 

Once  the  recruits  were  safely  in  Natchez,  most  of  a  soldier's  time  was  spent  in  camp. 
Drilling  and  work  details  on  the  construction  of  Fort  McPherson,  a  major  garrison 
spreading  over  much  of  the  town's  north-western  neighborhood,  probably  consumed  the 
lion's  share  of  a  recruit's  day.  Although  it  is  unclear  to  what  extent  the  Union  army 
employed  black  refugees  and  soldiers  in  building  the  fort,  scattered  references  in  the 
muster  records  show  assignments  to  fortification  duty  on  a  fairly  regular  basis.  The  job 
involved  tearing  down  and  removing  houses  (including  one  of  the  most  prestigious 
mansions  in  Natchez),  erecting  walls  (probably  earthen  mounds  around  artillery 
placements),  building  barracks,  and  digging  canals,  latrines,  and  privies.  (See 
ILLUSTRATION  K) 

Perhaps  because  of  the  priority  given  to  building  Fort  McPherson,  relatively  little 
attention  was  given  to  equipping  the  soldiers  for  fighting.  In  September  of  1863,  for 


292.  Special  Order  No.  63,  Vicksburg,  Mississippi,  September  29,  1863,  BFAL,  Record  group  752;  Special 
Order  No.  85.  Brig.  Gen.  Lorenzo  Thomas,  Natchez,  Mississippi,  October  24,  1863,  National  Archives. 
Washington,  D.C. 

293.  See  James  M.  McPherson,  Battle  Cry  of  Freedom:   The  Civil  War  Era  (New  York,  N.Y..  1988).  pp.  563. 

294.  See  C.  Peter  Ripley,  Slaves  and  Freedmen  in  Civil  War  Louisiana  (Baton  Rouge.  La..  1976).  pp.  102-125. 

295.  Frederick  H.  Dyer,  A  Compendium  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  (Dayton,  Ohio,  1979  printing),  pp.  1721, 
1733,  1734;  Official  Army  Register  of  the  Volunteer  Force  of  the  U.S.  Army.  Vol.  VIII.  (Washington. 1  DC.  1867); 
Muster,  Order,  and  Regimental  Description  Books  for  Sixth  Regiment  of  U.S.  Colored  Heavy  Artillery.  Fifty- 
Eighth  Regiment  of  U.S.  Colored  Infantry,  Sixty-Third  Regiment  of  U.S.  Colored  Infantry.  Seventieth 
Regiment  of  U.S.  Colored  Infantry,  Colored  Troops  Division,  Record  Group  94,  The  National  Archives, 
Washington,  D.C.  (Please  note  that  the  Seventy-First  Regiment  of  U.S.  Colored  Infantry  was  also  stationed 
at  Natchez  but  was  eventually  merged  with  the  Seventieth  Regiment). 

296.  Ibid.,  see  also  Joseph  T.  Glatthaar.  Forged  in  Battle:  The  Civil  War  Alliance  of  Black  Soldiers  and  White 
Officers  (New  York,  NY.,  1990).  pp.  99-168 

162 


.'     OP  THE  DEFENCES  OT 

NATCHEZ 

.Awpviicmmr. 


Q  Fort  McPherson 
@  Black  Barracks 
^7  Contraband  (amps 


Illustration  K:   Occupied  Natchez 

163 


example,  a  force  of  200  Rebels  attacked  Vidalia  in  an  attempt  to  capture  a  gang  of  black 
males  recruited  by  Col.  Bernard  Farrar  for  his  Sixth  Artillery  Regiment.  The  young  colonel 
managed  to  transfer  his  recruits  to  Natchez  just  in  time,  and  then  counterattacked  with 
a  "small  detachment  of  Negroes,  partially  armed  with  shotguns,"  and  about  forty  white 
soldiers  from  the  Thirtieth  Missouri  Infantry.  This  untrained  band  of  black  soldiers  and 
white  infantry  chased  the  Rebels  sixteen  miles  to  the  interior  town  of  Trinity,  where  they 
encountered  a  Rebel  force  800  strong.  It  is  uncertain  from  the  records  whether  the  enemy 
was  actually  engaged,  or  if  any  casualties  were  sustained.297 

But  few  black  troops  stationed  in  the  Natchez  area  ever  met  the  enemy  in  substantial 
battle.  No  Natchez  regiments  fought  at  Fort  Pillow  or  at  Milliken's  Bend,  where  hundreds 
of  black  soldiers  were  killed  or  taken  prisoner.298  Nor  did  the  bulk  of  Natchez  troops 
venture  far  from  town.  Rather,  most  black  soldiers  stationed  at  Fort  McPherson  had  as 
their  first  duty  the  protection  of  Natchez  from  Rebel  attack.  Because  that  attack  never 
came,  the  typical  Natchez  soldier  saw  relatively  little  action.  Local  engagements  with  the 
enemy  most  often  involved  Yankee  outfits  stationed  in  Vicksburg,  including  black  infantry, 
on  specific  maneuvers  throughout  Mississippi  and  northeastern  Louisiana.  A  review  of  the 
casualty  lists  for  Natchez  troops  shows  17  killed  in  battle,  9  wounded,  and  5  missing.  Only 
one  of  those  deaths  —  a  soldier  on  picket  duty  —  occurred  at  Natchez.299 

Table  11  lays  out  the  known  military  activities  of  the  black  soldiers  stationed  in  Natchez. 
The  data  is  undoubtedly  incomplete  and  is  useful  principally  for  the  character  of  the  action 
it  demonstrates. 

What  can  be  said  about  army  life  for  the  thousands  of  newly  liberated  black  soldiers 
stationed  at  Natchez  during  the  war?  Who  were  they?  How  well  did  they  cope  with 
military  discipline  and  the  new  adventure  that  was  upon  them?  To  start  with,  the  typical 
soldier's  day  in  Natchez  left  ample  time  for  drilling,  guard  duty,  cook  detail,  clean-up,  and 
fatigue  labor.  The  rules,  when  they  were  enforced,  looked  something  like  the  following  list 
of  directions  taken  from  the  Muster  Book  of  the  6th  Regiment,  U.S.  Colored,  Heavy 
Artillery.300 


297.  Ibid.,  Brig.  Gen.  Marcellus  M.  Crocker  to  Lt.  Col.  W.T.  Clark,  Assistant  Adjutant  General.  17th  Army 
Corps,  September  14,  1863,  Official  Records,  Ser.  1,  Vol.  26:    315. 

298.  Ibid.,  see  also  William  Wells  Brown,  The  Negro  in  the  American  Rebellion:  His  Heroism  and  His  Fidelity 
(New  York,  N.Y.,  1867,  Reprinted  in  19681;  James  M.  McPherson,  The  Negro's  Civil  War;  How  American 
Negroes  Felt  and  Acted  During  the  War  for  the  Union  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1965). 

299.  Ibid.,  see  also  Edwin  C.  Bearss,  Decision  in  Mississippi:  Mississippi's  Important  Role  in  the  War 
Between  the  States  (Little  Rock.  Ark.,  1962).  pp.  464-494. 

300.  Muster,  Order,  and  Regimental  Description  Books  for  Sixth  Regiment  of  U.S.  Colored  Heavy  Artillery, 
Record  group  94.  National  Archives,  Washington,  B.C. 

164 


Reveille 

6:00  am 

Roll  Call 

6:15 

Quarters  Cleaned  by 

7:00 

Breakfast 

7:00 

Guard  Mount 

8:30 

Dinner  Call 

12:00 

Roll  Call 

12:30  pm 

Retreat 

5:00 

Roll  Call 

5:30 

Supper 

5:30 

Tattoo 

8:00 

Taps 

8:30 

Table  11.    Service  Records  of  U.S.  Colored  Troops  at  Fort  McPhcrson 


6th  Heavv  Artillerv 


58th  Infantry 


Skirmish,  Vidalia,  La.,  (7,22,  64) 
Attack  on  Steamer,  (7,24,64) 
Expedition  to  Gillespie's  Plantation  in 

La.,  (8,  4-9,  64) 
Skirmish,  Concordia  Bayou.,  La. 

(8,  5,  64) 
Skirmish  at  Bucks  Ferry,  (9,  19-22,  64) 
Expedition  to  Waterproof  and  Sicily 

Island,  (9,  26-30,  64) 
Expedition  to  Homochitto  River 

(10,  5-8,  64) 
Expedition  to  York  Plantation,  La., 

(10,  26-27,  64) 
Skirmish  at  Black  River, 

(10,  31-11,  1,  64) 


Expedition  to  Gillespie's 
Plantation  (8,  4-6,  64) 


63rd  Infantry 

Skirmish,  Waterproof,  La., 

(4,  20,  64) 
Skirmish,  Ashwood,  Miss. 

(6,  25,  64) 
Skirmish  Camp  Marengo, 

(9,  4,  64) 
Skirmish,  Bullitt's  Bayou, 

(9,  24,  64) 


70th  Infantry 

Skirmishes,  Buck's  Ferry 
(9,  19-22,  64) 


Source:  Frederick  H.  Dyer,  A  Compendium  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  (Dayton, 
Ohio,  1979  printing),  pp.  1721,1733,1734;  Official  Army  Register  of  the  Volunteer 
Force  of  the  U.S.  Army,  VIII  (Washington,  D.C.,  1867);  Muster  and  Regimental 
Description  Books  for  6th  Heavy  Artillery,  58th  Infantry,  63rd  Infantry,  70 
Infantry,  Record  Group  94,  The  National  Archives,  Washington,  D.C. 


165 


Unlike  white  soldiers  elsewhere,  black  troops  in  Natchez  had  to  learn  soldiering  under 
wartime  conditions  without  the  advantages  of  having  ever  experienced  militia  duty  or 
being  able  to  read  posted  orders.  Also,  most  of  them  must  have  been  terribly  anxious  and 
gravely  worried  about  family  and  loved  ones.  Many  of  their  wives  and  children  had  been 
left  behind  on  abandoned  plantations  or  were  among  the  refugee  population  somewhere 
in  the  camps  at  Natchez.  Few  black  soldiers  could  read  or  write  letters  to  find  out  what 
had  happened  to  their  families.  Under  these  conditions,  black  soldiers  would  frequently 
sneak  away  after  taps  to  try  to  find  their  relatives  among  the  camps.  Others  would  bring 
wives  and  children  back  to  the  barracks  with  them.  Sometimes  the  women  were  family, 
sometimes  they  were  sweethearts,  and  sometimes  they  were  camp  followers  selling  sex  for 
survival. 

The  array  of  incidents  intruding  upon  camp  life  at  Natchez  was  met  by  orders  issued  in 
rapid  succession,  but  few  probably  achieved  there  intended  purpose.  What  follows  is  a 
sampling  of  directives,  orders,  communications,  and  proclamations  emanating  from  the  fort 
as  the  whites  in  charge  tried  to  control  the  situation.301 

Circular  January  4,  1865  —  Fort  McPherson:  Passes  to  enlisted  men  to 
pass  outside  fortifications  shall  not  exceed  two  to  each  company  at  a  time. 

Special  Order  #8  —  October  26,  63:  All  negro  women  within  our  camps 
without  a  pass  employed  or  unemployed  will  be  arrested  forthwith  and  sent 
to  contraband  camps.  They  will  be  allowed  to  stay  until  tomorrow  morning. 

Special  Order  #15  —  November  14,  1863:  Commanders  will  allow  their 
men  to  rest  until  3:00  at  which  time  they  will  proceed  to  clean  quarters. 
There  will  be  inspection  of  quarters  and  clothing  tomorrow  morning  at  9:00 
am. 

All  colored  women  &  children  found  within  the  lines  after  the  hours 
of  8  o'clock  tomorrow  without  proper  authority  will  be  arrested  and  sent  to 
the  coral  under  guard. 

Commandant  and  companies  will  designate  and  give  papers  to  four 
competent  female  cooks  to  each  company  and  cause  the  same  to  be  sent  to 
H.Q.  for  approval.  All  others  must  be  sent  to  the  coral  as  there  presence 
have  a  demoralizing  effect. 

General  Order  #3  —  November  15,  1863:  There  must  be  proper  sinks 
provided  and  it  is  engendered  upon  officers,  non-coms,  and  privates  to  arrest 
and  punish  in  severest  manner  any  person  found  guilty  of  committing 
nuisances  within  camp  lines  other  than  at  sinks. 

Special  Order  #19  —  November  16,  1863:  Whiskey  is  to  be  issued  in  drinks 
only.  The  1st.  Sergeant  will,  immediately  after  morning  and  evening  Roll, 
march  their  men  to  the  Commissary,  bring  them  to  a  point  and  dress  them 
in  a  line  and  see  that  they  remain  silent  and  orderly  with  cup  in  hand.  The 
commissary  sergeant,  beginning  at  the  right,  will  issue  to  each  his  ration 


301.    See  especially  Muster,  Order,  and  Regimental  Description  Books  for  Sixth  Regiment,  U.S.  Colored  Heavy 
Artillery;  Seventieth  Regiment,  U.S.  Colored  Infantry,  Record  Group  94,  National  Archives.  Washington.  D.C. 

166 


from  right  to  left.  In  no  case  will  greater  portions  be  issued  without 
approval. 

General  Order  #4  —  December  3,  1863:  There  has  recently  been 
considerable  firing  in  camp  by  men  who  know  no  better  and  by  officers  who 
ought  [to],  and  do,  know  better.  -  All  men  coming  off  duty  with  loaded  fire 
arms  will  be  marched  to  the  River  Bank  to  fire  their  pieces.  Violators  will 
be  severely  punished. 

General  Order  #7  —  February  15,  1865:  There  will  be  company  and  squad 
drill  every  day  between  2:00  and  4:00  pm. 

General  Order  #2  —  October  10,  1865:  It  having  come  to  the  attention  of 
the  captain  that  enlisted  men  are  continually  leaving  camp  without  proper 
permission,  some  to  commit  depredations,  others  to  lounge  around  the 
depot,  and  other  places.  To  rectify  this  evil,  It  is  hereby  ordered  that  no 
enlisted  man  will  be  allowed  to  leave  the  camp  limits  except  as  follows:  1. 
When  on  duty.  2.  In  company  with  a  commanding  officer.  3.  With  a  pass 
from  Company  Commander.  4.  Enlisted  men  wishing  to  be  absent  from 
camp  after  retreat  must  have  passes  stamped  by  regimental  commander. 

Such  directives  as  the  above  did  little  good,  however,  in  preventing  black  soldiers, 
refugees,  and  the  uprooted  from  spilling  over  into  the  community.  It  was  an  almost 
impossible  situation  to  control.  Col.  Willard  C.  Earle  said  as  much  in  response  to  a 
dressing-down  he  received  from  an  acting  superior  officer: 

In  reply  let  me  say  that  I  value  the  reputation  of  my  command  as  I  do  my 
own  sacred  honor  and  I  shall  defend  it  as  such  and  I  now  say  without  fear 
of  contradiction  that  for  last  ten  days  not  one  of  my  command  have  been  out 
of  camp  after  retreat,  and,  furthermore,  that  a  gun  has  not  been  fired  by 
any  of  my  men  in  guard  unauthorized.  Any  person  who  says  to  the  contrary 
of  this  is  false. 

If  I  am  to  be  responsible  for  the  acts  of  the  swarm  of  soldiers,  both  white 

and  black,  that  passes  up  the  valley  to  the and  lie  around  upon  the 

side  of  the  hill  back  of  Brown's  garden,  I  wish  to  know  of  it.  02 

Much  of  the  confusion  reflected  the  normal  turmoil  of  war  and  the  throwing  together  of 
a  displaced  population  of  refugees  and  soldiers.  From  the  time  Natchez  was  occupied  in 
July  of  1863,  Union  forces  conducted  nearly  700  raids,  actions,  skirmishes,  battles, 
campaigns,  operations,  and  expeditions  in  Mississippi.  Many  of  these  operations  occurred 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  state,  and  soldiers  on  expedition  looked  to  Natchez  as  a  safe 
haven.  Military  records  document  expeditions  and  skirmishes  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  Natchez  by  several  dozen  units  stationed  elsewhere,  including  the  98th  Colored  Infantry 
out  of  Vicksburg.  Black  and  white  soldiers  often  showed  up  in  Natchez  when  lost  from 


302.  Colonel  W.C.  Earle  to  Colonel  B.G.  Farrar,  May  16,  1864,  Order  Books,  Seventy-First  Regiment,  U.S. 
Colored  Infantry,  (Consolidated  into  the  Seventieth  Regiment),  Record  Group  94,  National  Archives, 
Washington,  D.C. 

167 


their  regiments  or  on  stopovers  for  supplies.  Others  might  be  deserters  from  units  as  far 
away  as  New  Orleans.  Then,  too,  there  were  the  camp  followers  and  retainers  that 
certainly  included  prostitutes,  sutlers,  merchants  looking  for  supply  business  with  the 
lessees  of  abandoned  plantations,  and  northern  adventurers,  like  the  journalist  John  Knox 
quoted  above,  hoping  to  profit  from  the  war  as  first-hand  observers.303 

Part  of  the  general  confusion  also  stemmed  from  training  activities  that  required  drilling 
and  practice  maneuvers  on  the  bluffs  above  the  river,  in  town  squares,  and  on  the  open 
grounds  of  suburban  estates.  Soldiers  needed  space  for  exercise,  for  recreation,  and  just 
to  turn  around  in.  Also,  because  most  of  the  squads  and  companies  were  poorly  equipped, 
inadequately  dressed,  ill  housed,  and  short  on  rations,  the  scene  had  a  certain  ragtag 
character  to  it.  Food  shortages  were  as  much  of  a  problem  for  the  black  units  as  was  lack 
of  ammunition  and  shoes.  Col.  W.  C.  Earle,  of  the  70th  Colored  Infantry,  tried  to  remedy 
the  problem  by  sending  his  troops  into  the  countryside  to  forage  for  vegetables: 

I  have  the  honor  to  report  that  my  command  has  had  no  vegetables  fed  to 
them  for  months  past  and  it  being  necessary  that  vegitables  be  procured,  I 
respectfully  request  that  I  be  permitted  to  send  a  forage  party  to  consist  of 
two  companies  under  the  command  of  Major  W.  W.  Boatwright  into  the 
country  to  forage  for  such  vegetable  as  can  be  attained. 

Drilling  parties,  foraging  squads,  work  details,  expeditions,  and  the  like  were  afoot  at  all 
hours  of  the  day.  Most  soldiers  were  probably  stationed  within  the  confines  of  Fort 
McPherson  toward  the  end  of  the  war,  but  black  recruits  could  be  stationed  just  about 
anywhere  in  the  community.  The  site  of  the  original  Fort  Rosalie  —  at  the  western  end 
of  the  bluffs  overlooking  Natchez  Under-the-Hill  —  housed  a  mansion  estate  that  was  used 
as  army  headquarters  in  the  first  months  of  the  war.  Black  troops  were  barracked  Under- 
the-Hill  near  Brown's  lumber  camp,  on  the  bluffs  above  the  town  to  the  north,  and  in  the 
old  slave  market  at  the  Forks-of-the-Road  east  of  town.  Squads  of  soldiers  moved  between 
the  various  locations  all  the  time,  giving  the  entire  town  the  perpetual  look  of  a  military 
camp  for  much  of  the  war.305 

The  question  of  just  who  were  the  black  soldiers  in  Natchez  cannot  be  answered  with 
certainty  at  this  writing.  What  can  be  said  is  that  the  soldiers  were  from  all  age  groups 
between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  fifty,  with  young  men  predominating.  Most  of  them 
probably  had  families  somewhere  in  the  immediate  vicinity.  A  significant  percentage  were 
second  generation  blacks  from  Adams  County  and  adjoining  counties  and  parishes  in 
Mississippi  and  Louisiana.  But  many  had  been  born  in  distant  states  —  probably  brought 
to  Natchez  in  the  slave  trade.  Indeed,  one  of  the  ironies  of  the  war  is  that  some  of  the 
black  soldiers  stationed  at  the  slave  market  at  the  Forks  had  probably  been  housed  there 


303.  Ibid.,  also  Bearss,  Decision  in  Mississippi:  Mississippi's,  pp.  464-494:  Dyer,  A  Compendium  of  the  War, 
pp.  766-787. 

304.  Col.  W.C.  Earle  to  Lt.  C.B.  Smith.  Acting  Adjutant  General,  September  12,  1864.  Order  Book.  Seventieth 
Regiment,  U.S.  Colored  Infantry,  Record  Group  92,  National  Archives.  Washington,  D.C. 

305.  See  the  Muster  Books  mentioned  above  as  well  as  Bishop  William  Henry  Elder's  Civil  War  Diary:  1862- 
1S65  (Jackson,  Miss..  No  Publication  Date)  and  Register  of  Baptisms.  May  9,  1861  to  December  26.  1865.  St. 
Mary's  Cathedral.  Natchez,  Mississippi. 

168 


at  least  once  before  in  their  lives  when  sold  by  slave  traders  to  the  masters  with  whom 
they  were  now  at  war. 

Tables  12  and  13  below  are  compilations  of  data  taken  from  the  Muster  Books  of  the  58th 
U.S.  Colored  Infantry  stationed  at  Natchez.  Most  of  the  recruits  in  the  58th  hailed  from 
the  Mississippi  side  of  the  river  and  were  mustered  in  shortly  after  the  occupation  of 
Natchez  in  the  summer  of  1863.  Not  all  companies  of  the  58th  are  represented  in  the 
Table  12,  but  it  is  a  large  enough  sample  to  get  a  feel  for  the  situation.306 


Tabic  12.   Age  and  Place  of  Birth  of  Black  Soldiers  at  Natchez 
58th  U.S.  Colored  Infantrv 


Aj 

jes 

16-20 

21-25 

26-30 

31-40 

41  + 

Total 

# 

151 

157 

117 

126 

51 

602 

% 

25% 

26% 

19% 

21% 

8% 

100% 

Place  of  Birth 

N.C. 

Mo. 

s.c. 

Adams 

Kv. 

VA. 

Ga. 

County 

Miss. 

La. 

Tenn. 

Myld. 

Ala. 

?          Total 

# 

101 

218 

44 

82 

134 

9 

14        602 

% 

17% 

36% 

7% 

15% 

22% 

1% 

2%       100% 

Source:  Muster  Books  and  Regimental  Description  Records,  58th  Colored  U.S. 
Infantry,  RG.  94,  National  Archives,  Washington,  D.C. 


306.    Muster,  Order,  and  Regimental  Description  Books,  Fifty-Eighth  Regiment,  U.S.  Colored  Infantry,  Record 
Group  94,  National  Archives,  Washington,  D.C. 

169 


Table  13.    Sample  of  Individuals  Born  in  Adams  County 
58th.  Colored  U.S.  Infantry:  Co.  E 


Name 


Age    Occupation  Owner 


Married     Remarks 


Richard  Austin 

24 

Gardener 

General  Quitman 

S 

Appt  Sergeant 

Prince  Albert 

40 

Coachman 

Philip  Nicholes 

M 

Frank  Burris 

20 

Field  Hand 

Thomas  McGowin 

M 

Died,  July  1864 

Walter  Bradley 

25 

Gardener 

Major  Chotah 

M 

Elias  Docker 

22 

Gardener 

Benjamin  Chase 

S 

William  Dorsey 

18 

Field  Hand 

Thomas  McGowin 

M 

Jacob  Ellis 

20 

Field  Hand 

Sam  Courin 

? 

David  Fletcher 

20 

Field  Hand 

Major  Chotah 

S 

Died,  March  1864 

Anthony  Farass 

22 

Field  Hand 

Samuel  Haubert 

S 

William  Gray 

23 

9 

Henry  Chotale 

s 

Jeff.  Harding 

40 

'7 

Frank  Reynolds 

M 

Scott  Simon 

40 

Field  Hand 

Johnson  Rucker 

? 

Deserted,  Sept.  63 

Screws  Simon 

27 

Field  Hand 

Johnson  Rucker 

M 

Deserted,  Sept.  63 

Wallis  Stevens 

21 

Butler 

Richard  Chotah 

M 

Died,  May  1864 

Charles  Vessles 

19 

Butler 

General  Quitman 

s 

Corporal 

George  Walters 

28 

Field  Hand 

? 

S 

Died,  Sept.  1863 

Edward  Whites 

44 

Field  Hand 

Judge  Turner 

M 

Joe  Witherspool 

45 

Field  Hand 

Girard  Stanton 

M 

William  Wood 

22 

Field  Hand 

Samuel  Graham 

S 

Died,  Sept.  1863 

Geo  Washington 

38 

Groom 

A.  L.  Bingaman 

M 

Murd  by  Guerillas 

Nathan  Wright 

21 

Field  Hand 

John  Rucker 

S 

George  Wright 

28 

Field  Hand 

John  Rucker 

M 

Deserted,  Oct.  63 
Returned,  June  65 

James  Wright 

24 

Field  Hand 

John  Rucker 

M 

Deserted,  Oct.  63 

Returned,  June.  65 

Albert  Nichols 

18 

Field  Hand 

Free 

? 

Corporal 

Joseph  Hinton 

26 

Field  Hand 

Jonathan  Day 

? 

Died,  Dec.  1865 

John  Jefferson 

24 

Butler 

Mr.  Martin 

? 

David  Stephens 

44 

Gardener 

Major  Chotah 

9 

Edward  Moor 

23 

Field  Hand 

Joseph  Turpin 

9 

G.  Hubbard 

23 

Dining  Car  Svt. 

? 

9 

Oli  Laster 

20 

Field  Hand 

9 

9 

Frank  Waters 

L8 

Field  Hand 

9 

? 

Elisha  Clasly 

32 

Field  Hand 

E.  Fowles 

9 

Died,  Nov.  1864 

Joe  Baker 

20 

Field  Hand 

Widow  Besley 

9 

Deserted.  June  64 

N.  McNealey 

18 

Field  Hand 

Widow  Besley 

9 

Paris  McNealey 

19 

Field  Hand 

Widow  Besley 

? 

George  Williams 

18 

Field  Hand 

Widow  Besley 

9 

General  Lewis 

IS 

Field  Hand 

John  Rucker 

9 

DischgdDisblty 

Major  James 

IS 

Field  Hand 

Mr.  Lambling 

9 

Deserted,  July  64 

Jerimiah  Hill 

19 

Butcher 

9 

9 

Received  $100 

Source:    Muster  Books  and  Regimental  Description  Records,  58th  Colored  U.S.  Infantry,  RG.  94, 
National  Archives,  Washington,  D.C. 


170 


The  individuals  listed  in  Table  13  cannot  be  said  at  this  point  in  the  discussion  to  be 
representative  of  the  black  soldiers  stationed  in  Natchez  during  the  war.  But  several 
aspects  of  the  profiles  are  noteworthy  and  probably  typical.  Company  E  of  the  58th 
Colored  U.S.  Infantry  recruited  brothers  (the  McNealeys,  Wrights,  and  Simons),  slaves 
owned  by  the  same  owners,  and  domestic  servants  along  with  fieldhands.  Many  of  the 
Adams  County  slaves  recruited  into  Company  E  probably  knew  one  another  from  before 
the  war.  Indeed,  there  are  clear  indications  in  the  muster  records  that  platoons,  squads, 
and  companies  were  often  composed  of  slaves  from  the  same  plantations.  A  number  of  the 
recruits  were  married,  and  they  undoubtedly  had  wives  and  children  in  one  of  the  refugee 
camps  in  or  around  Natchez.  Only  one  of  the  black  recruits,  a  groom  for  planter  nabob  A. 
L.  Bingaman,  was  killed  in  action,  murdered  by  partisans  with  a  pistol  shot  to  the  head. 
About  18  percent  of  the  recruits  died  from  diseases  contracted  in  camp,  and  about  the 
same  number  deserted.  This  represents  a  significant  contrast  with  the  data  for  the  entire 
58th  Regiment.  For  the  group  as  a  whole  nearly  32  percent  died  from  diseases  and  natural 
deaths  (487  soldiers),  and  10  percent  deserted  (162). 3CW  Both  figures  require  further 
comment. 

The  number  of  soldiers  who  died  in  Natchez  is  simply  astounding.  Casualties  for  a  sample 
of  3270  black  soldiers  stationed  at  Natchez  (based  on  muster  book  reports)  show  that 
nearly  38  percent  died  in  camp  from  diseases  contracted  after  recruitment.  That 
percentage  translates  into  830  men  or  about  one  out  of  every  three  black  soldiers. 
Compared  to  the  Union  army  overall,  where  the  figure  was  one  out  of  thirteen,  the 
Natchez  death  toll  was  staggeringly  high.  Add  to  the  dead  the  hundreds  who  came  down 
with  debilitating  diseases  —  but  lived  —  and  you  have  the  picture  of  a  garrison  beset  by 
such  rampant  sickness  as  to  render  companies  unfit  for  active  duty  most  of  the  time.  Gut- 
wrenching  diarrhea,  pneumonia,  camp  fevers  brought  on  by  malaria  and  unsanitary  living 
conditions,  and  outbreaks  of  smallpox  and  measles  kept  camp  hospitals  overflowing  with 
the  dead  and  dying.  (The  range  of  aliments  is  displayed  in  Table  14  below). 


307.     Ibid. 

171 


Table  14.   Casualties  Among  Black  Soldiers  in  Natchez 


Total 

Dead 

Measles 

Colds,  Lung, 

Pneumonia 

3,270 

830* 

64  (8%) 

29  (3%) 

Fevers 

Dysentery 

Diarrhea 

21  (2%) 

15  (2%) 

34  (4%) 

Small  Pox 

Diseases 

Other 

104  (12%) 

470  (57%) 

86  (10%) 

Wounds 

26  (3%) 

Source:  Muster  Books  and  Regimental  Description  Records,  6th  U.S.  Colored  Heavy 
Artillery;  58th  Colored  U.S.  Infantry;  70th  U.S.  Colored  Infantry,  R.  G.  94,  National 
Archives,  Washington,  D.C. 

This  total  does  not  include  battle  casualties. 

**Percentage  calculated  on  total  deaths,  including  battle  casualties. 


In  some  companies  the  toll  was  even  higher  than  the  average.  Company  D  of  the  58th 
Regiment  Colored  U.S.  Infantry  recruited  sixty  blacks  in  a  five-month  period  from  August 
19  to  December  of  1863.  Forty-eight  percent  of  these  soldiers  were  dead  within  one  year  — 
one  out  of  two  recruits.  Thirty  percent  had  perished  within  three  months  of  their 
enlistment,  probably  before  they  had  even  gone  on  their  first  outside  maneuvers. 

No  wonder  that  black  soldiers  deserted  at  every  opportunity.  Nearly  13  percent  were 
AWOL  at  some  time  during  the  war.  Some  units  had  higher  desertion  rates  than  others: 
thirty-six  percent  of  the  recruits  in  Company  A  of  the  70th  Regiment,  U.S.  Colored 
Infantry,  deserted  within  six  to  eight  weeks  of  their  enlistment.  Where  they  went  or  why 
they  left  is  unknown,  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand  that  desertion  may  have  seemed 
the  only  way  of  saving  one's  life  in  view  of  the  death  toll  at  Natchez. 

As  difficult  as  the  plight  was  for  black  soldiers  in  Natchez,  that  of  the  women  and  children 
huddled  together  in  the  refugee  camps  Under-the-Hill,  across  the  river  in  Vidalia,  and  to 
the  north  at  the  town  of  Washington  was  probably  worse.  The  town's  principal  refugee 
camp  was  located  under  the  bluff  just  north  of  Brown's  lumber  yard,  and  it  contained  as 
many  as  4000  refugees  in  the  summer  of  1863.  When  James  Yeatman  surveyed  the  camp 
in  the  fall  of  1863,  2000  had  already  perished  —  as  many  as  seventy-five  in  a  single 


308.  Ibid. 

309.  Ibid.;  Seventieth  Regiment,  U.S.  Colored  Infantry.  See  also  Andrew  black,  "In  the  Service  of  the  United 
States:  Disease  and  Mortality  in  Black  Civil  War  Soldiers,"  unpublished  graduate  seminar  paper.  California 
State  University,  Northridgo,  in  author's  possession. 


172 


day.310  Most  of  the  dead  were  probably  children  infected  with  smallpox  and  measles. 
The  Catholic  Bishop  William  Henry  Elder  told  of  his  first  visit  to  the  camp's  hospital  on 
September  4,  1863: 

For  the  first  time  I  learned  that  there  was  a  Hospital  belonging  to  the 
Colored  Camp.  It  was  the  two  story  frame  house  at  the  gate  of  the  Camp 
near  the  Furnace  &  Mill.  On  the  floor  behind  the  door  lay  the  corpse  of  a 
man  with  the  hands  tied.  In  the  middle  lay  a  boy  breathing  hard  — 
apparently  dying.  He  had  no  covering  but  a  shirt  —  nothing  to  lie  on  but 
some  coats  &  rags  under  his  head  &  a  part  of  his  body.  I  talked  with  him. 
He  seemed  to  understand  and  answer  affirmatively.  At  a  risk  I  baptized  him 
&  gave  him  absolution.  An  old  man  of  92  years  lying  on  a  bundle  of  rags  in 
a  corner,  called  to  me  to  "Come  &  pray  for  him."  I  instructed  him  briefly  - 
&  had  no  hesitation  about  baptizing  him.  He  accepted  explicitly  The 
Catholic  Church,  &  promised  to  follow  it  if  he  shd.  recover.  The  next  day  I 
gave  him  Extreme  Unction  &  the  Scapular  wh.  he  received  with  sensible 
devotion.  Baptized  three  infants,  &  four  adults  in  danger  of  death.311 

Bishop  Elder  and  his  associate  priests  at  St.  Mary's  Cathedral  devoted  much  of  their  time 
over  the  next  sixteen  months  to  ministering  to  the  refugee  population  in  the  camps. 
Making  almost  daily  visits,  the  Catholic  priests  baptized  hundreds  of  refugee  children  and 
adults  at  nine  locations  in  the  town:  the  camp  Under-the-Hill,  the  Negro  Hospital  adjacent 
the  camp,  the  city  hospital  located  at  the  eastern  edge  of  town  on  the  road  to  the  Forks-of- 
the-Road  Army  barracks,  a  place  referred  to  in  the  baptismal  records  as  the  "Pest  House," 
the  "smallpox  hospital"  located  at  the  estate  of  "Mrs.  Ogden"  outside  of  town,  the  "colored" 
barracks  at  the  Forks-of-the-Road,  the  Jefferson  Hotel  (which  was  used  as  a  refugee  depot 
for  Louisiana  refugees  both  white  and  black),  a  facility  identified  as  Buckner's  House,  and 
across  the  river  at  a  refugee  camp  and  hospital  in  Vidalia.  Most  of  the  baptisms  were 
administered  to  dying  refugees,  and  the  data  provides  significant  insight  into  the  location 
of  the  camps  and  the  composition  of  the  refugee  population  in  and  around  Natchez. 
(See  Table  15  below) 


310.  See  James  E.  Yeatman,  A  Report  on  the  Condition  of  the  Freedmen  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  (St.  Louis. 
Mo.,  1864),  pp.  1-16. 

311.  Elder,  Civil  War  Diary,  pp.  62-63. 

312.  Register  of  Baptisms,  May  9,  1861  to  December  26,  1865,  St.  Mary's  Cathedral,  Natchez,  Mississippi. 

173 


Table  15  (a).   Baptisms  of  Black  Refugees  and  Soldiers  (Children) 


Children 

Children 

Infants 

Infants 

ages  2-14 

Ages  2-14 

with  Single 

with  Both 

with  Single 

with  Both 

Total 

Total 

Camps 

Parents 

Parents 

Parents 

Parents 

Infants 

Children 

Camp 

62 

21 

162 

60 

83 

222 

Negro/Hosp 

5 

0 

10 

1 

5 

11 

City  Hosp 

0 

0 

1 

0 

0 

1 

Pest  House 

1 

0 

2 

3 

1 

5 

Small  Pox  Hosp 

4 

2 

12 

1 

6 

13 

Forks 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

Jefferson  Hotel 

0 

1 

1 

1 

1 

2 

Buckner's  House 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

Vidalia 

0 

0 

0 

2 

0 

2 

Total 


72 


24 


188 


68 


96 


255 


Table  15  (b).   Baptisms  Continued  (Adults) 


Location  Males 

Camp  73 

Negro/Hosp  2 

City  Hosp  21 

Pest  House  55 

Samll  Pox  Hosp  49 

Forks  89 

Jefferson  Hotel  1 

Buckner's  House  6 

Vidalia  0 


Elderlv 

Elderlv 

Total 

Total 

Females 

Males 

Females 

Adults 

elderly 

156 

32 

24 

229 

56 

19 

7 

1 

21 

8 

3 

3 

4 

24 

7 

30 

10 

1 

85 

11 

11 

9 

1 

60 

10 

1 

0 

0 

90 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

0 

1 

0 

0 

7 

0 

5 

1 

0 

5 

1 

Total 


296 


226 


63 


27 


522 


93 


Source:  Bishop  William  Henry  Elder,  Civil  War  Diary:  1862-1865  (Jackson,  Miss.,  No  Publication 
Date);  Register  of  Baptisms,  1863-1865,  St,  Mary's  Cathedral,  Natchez,  Miss. 


174 


Assuming  that  the  baptized  were  somewhat  characteristic  of  the  population  in  the  camps, 
it  is  clear  that  the  vast  majority  of  the  refugees,  60  percent,  were  women  and  children' 
When  the  camp  is  assessed  on  its  own,  the  proportion  is  significantly  higher:  nearly  80 
percent  of  those  baptized  at  the  camp  Under-the-Hill  —  meaning  those  dying  —  were 
women  and  children.  And  nearly  75  percent  of  the  children  and  babies  were  the  children 
of  single  mothers.3 

There  were  also  hundreds  of  black  residents  and  refugees  living  as  best  they  could  outside 
of  the  main  camp.  Bishop  Elder  confided  in  his  diary  that  a  barn  owned  by  the  Church 
near  Pine  Ridge  road  "was  torn  to  pieces  yesterday  by  Colored  People,  to  make  shanties 
under  the  hill.  .  .  ."  Barns,  fences,  and  almost  any  scrap  of  wood  in  the  town  became  fair 
game  as  black  refugees  dragged  them  away  to  build  make-shift  shelters  in  would-be  camps 
at  the  Devil's  Punch  Bowl  upriver,  near  the  Forks-of-the-Road,  and  at  a  camp  outside  the 
town  of  Washington  near  Jefferson  College.314 


The  advantages  of  living  in  the  Federal  camps  came  down  to  a  question  of  food  rather  than 
shelter.  Hungry  women  received  10  ounces  of  pork  or  bacon  a  week,  1  pound  of  cornmeal 
five  times  a  week,  1  pound  of  flour  or  soft  bread  —  or  12  ounces  of  hard  bread  —  twice  a 
week,  portions  of  sugar,  vinegar,  candles,  soap,  salt,  potatoes,  and  rye  coffee.  Children 
under  14  were  issued  one  half  the  adult  rations.  But  the  trade-off  was  the  high  risk  of 
contacting  infectious  diseases,  devastating  sicknesses  that  turned  the  shanty  town  Under- 
the-Hill  into  a  death  camp.  Under  these  circumstance,  numerous  black  refugees  avoided 
the  federal  camps  at  all  costs.315 


The  tragedy  of  the  black  experience  in  wartime  Natchez  was  that  its  black  soldiers  and 
refugees  had  gone  there  looking  for  a  new  life.  What  many  of  them  found  instead,  whether 
in  the  camps  or  the  army  barracks,  was  death.  And  those  few  thousand  blacks  who  had 
contracted  as  subsistence  wage  laborers  on  plantations  leased  by  the  government  or 
operated  by  loyal  planters,  realized  few  wages  for  their  work  and  enjoyed  little  freedom 
in  the  process.  Perhaps  that  is  why  the  vast  majority  of  Natchez  district  blacks  avoided 
the  army  camps,  leased  plantations,  and  refugee  depots  during  the  war.  Better  to  stay 
put  —  they  must  have  reasoned  —  and  grow  corn  and  vegetables  (or  else  subsist  by  fishing 
and  hunting)  while  waiting  out  the  war  than  to  face  the  almost  certain  death,  terror,  and 
restrictions  associated  with  the  other  options  available. 

Yet,  when  all  is  said  and  done,  the  Civil  War  experience  of  Natchez  district  blacks  was  an 
uplifting  tale  of  courage,  valor,  fortitude,  and  risk-taking.  The  documents  are  filled  with 
examples  of  freedmen  refusing  to  accept  life  on  terms  established  by  their  former  masters 
or  their  Yankee  liberators.  One  of  the  most  revealing  sources  is  a  diary  kept  by  an 


313.  Ibid. 

314.  Ibid. 

315.  general  Order  No.  30,  Col.  E.D.  Townsend,  Assistant  Adjutant  General,  January  25,  1864,  Official 
Records,  Ser.  3,  Vol.  4:    44-45. 

175 


anonymous  young  white  woman  who  lived  on  one  of  the  plantation  estates  near  Natchez. 
The  entries  excerpted  below  show  a  woman  enraged  over  the  "faithlessness"  of  her  former 
slaves.316 

July  16,  1863: 

This  same  evening  Billy  came  back  with  a  note  to  Aunt  J.  from 
Uncle  R.  This  note  had  no  name  on  the  back  and  only  George  signed 
at  the  bottom.  When  we  awakened  the  next,  yesterday,  morning  Billy 
had  returned  to  the  Yankees.  A  good  riddance,  I  say,  as  he  is  too  lazy 
to  work  for  himself  and  the  biggest  liar  I  ever  knew. 

The  negroes  are  flocking  to  the  enemy  in  town  and  the  Yanks  are 
cussing  them  and  saying  they  wished  they  had  never  seen  a  negro. 
They  are  an  ungrateful  set  and  we  are  all  tired  of  them.  None  of  ours 
have  gone  from  here  yet  but  Billy  &  I  hope  they  will  all  prove 
faithful  to  the  end. 

July  25,  1863: 

We  went  to  Grandma's  —  her  maid  and  Maud's  sister  have  left  and 
a  more  arrent  hypocrite  I  never  heard  of  than  Harriet.  Grandma 
does  not  seem  to  care  at  all  about  the  negroes  leaving  —  she  is  right 
too  for  if  they  go  let  them  and  reap  the  benifit  of  it  too.  Pa's  boy 
Allen  has  gone,  fooled  off  by  some  old  fool.  Fred  the  carriage  driver 
has  gone  to  what  they  all  think  a  better  place  but  poor  deluded 
creatures  they  will  find  out  too  late  who  are  their  best  friends, 
Master  or  Massa.  Mrs.  Dunbar's  two  house  servants,  Nancy  and 
Mary  Ann,  left  Thursday  morning  and  the  latter  took  all  of  her 
children.  Now  Mrs.  D.  has  to  do  the  house  cleaning  and  nearly  all 
the  house  work.  It  seems  that  if  the  rest  who  are  here  if  they  had 
any  feeling  they  would  feel  sorry  for  Mrs.  D.  and  remain  faithful. 

July  28,  1863: 

On  Sunday,  Mrs.  D.  let  Joe  come  over  and  take  us  to  church.  Tillie 
went  with  us.  Mr.  Stratton  gave  us  a  good  sermon  and  the  most 
beautiful  prayers.  .  .  .  When  the  services  were  nearly  ended  a  negro 

man  in Sunday  clothes  came  up  the  middle  aisle  to  the  pulpit, 

stopped  a  little  while  there,  walked  to  the  right  hand  side  of  the 
Church.  Mr.  Carradine  got  up  and  demanded  what  he  wanted.  The 
impudent  scamp  said  he  came  to  church  and  wanted  a  seat.  All  of 
the  congregation  looked  astounded  as  did  Mr.  Stratton.  Mr.  C. 
showed  him  into  the  gallery  where  the  servants  sit.  I  was  so  angry7. 
Miss  Lucie  Struve  says  she  looked  around  and  the  Yankees  were 
laughing  heartily  to  themselves.  I  should  not  be  surprised  if  some 
one  of  our  enemies  had  sent  him  in  the  church  as  an  insult  to  us. 
Old  May  and  Rizzie  left  Sunday  morning  and  that  night  old  Sally 


316.     Anonymous  Diary,  Mississippi  Department  of  Archives  and  History.  Jackson.  Mississippi. 

176 


decamped  with  all  her  "traps."  Yesterday  morning  Jim  and  Frank 
left.  I  think  the  latter  was  persuaded  off  by  some  of  the  older 
negroes.  Florence  told  us  yesterday  that  her  mother  was  packing  up 
to  go  to  the  Yankees.  We  are  in  a  delightful  state  of  expectancy  not 
knowing  exactly  what  time  his  honor  and  wife  will  leave.  I  think 
negroes  are  a  lot  of  ingrates  and  God  punishes  us  for  ingratitude  as 
much  as  for  any  other  sin.  Let  the  foe  take  all  the  negroes  —  they 
are  welcome  to  them  and  the  sooner  we  are  rid  of  them  the  quicker 
we  will  whip  our  enemy. 


July  30,  1863: 


Ned  and  May  are  still  with  us  but  they  do  no  work.  Ned  goes  to  town 
every  day  after  something  connected  with  the  Devil  no  doubt. 
Matilda  left  last  night.  We  think  all  will  go  whensoever  it  pleases 
their  majesties.  Rose  is  sick  so  for  the  last  two  mornings  we  have 
been  obliged  to  do  a  greater  part  of  the  house  work.  It  is  not  hard  to 
do.  Taking  out  the  slops  is  the  only  part  that  I  do  not  like.  I  am 
going  to  help  Sarah  iron  today  as  she  has  so  much  to  do  with 
Matilda's  work.  I  do  hope  some  of  them  will  be  faithful  for  if  they  are 
not,  I  shall  lose  entire  faith  in  the  whole  race.  Mr.  Dunbar's  Joe  left 
Monday.  He  was  a  consummate  hypocrite,  in  fact  they  all  are. 

August  23,  1863: 

Celia  left  last  Saturday  afternoon  with  her  two  children.  She  was 
very  cool  about  it,  had  a  wagon  to  come  out  for  her  things.  I  wish 
that  I  had  ordered  the  man  away  and  then  made  her  go,  but  I  was 
fearful  I  should  bring  trouble  upon  Aunt  Jenny.  Anyway,  she  is  gone 
and  I  have  been  helping  old  Emmeline  to  cook. 

For  white  men  and  women  who  had  never  ironed  or  handled  slop  pots,  the  idea  of  doing 
menial  work  was  simply  infuriating.  Such  a  response  is  understandable.  But  what  is 
significant  is  the  way  black  men  and  women  had  so  eagerly  embraced  their  new  found 
freedom  at  every  opportunity.  For  a  black  man  to  march  down  the  center  aisle  of  the  most 
prestigious  white  church  in  town  intent  on  sitting  among  his  former  masters,  was  less  a 
mark  of  impudence  than  a  display  of  contempt.  Such  actions  as  these  were  characteristic 
of  the  new  relationship  between  masters  and  slaves  everywhere  in  the  Natchez  district 
after  the  summer  of  1863. 

Contempt  and  empowerment  and  freedom  is  what  freedman  Sam  Geoff  displayed  in  his 
appeal,  in  March  of  1864,  to  Treasury  Agent  R.  S.  Hart  for  intervention  on  his  behalf,  and 
on  the  behalf  of  the  thirty-four  other  freedmen  whom  he  represented,  for  wages  due  him 
by  the  lessees  of  the  Johnson  and  Carr  plantations  in  Concordia.31'  Such  actions  as 
Geoffs  were  described  as  "disgusting  business"  by  planter  Stephen  Duncan  in  a  letter  to 
his  father  in  January  of  1865.   Duncan  was  livid  with   anger  because  most  of  his 


317.     R.S.  Hart,  Assistant  Special  Agent,  Treasury  Department,  to  William  P.  Mellen,  March  7,  1864.  records 
of  the  U.S.  Treasury  Department,  Record  Group  366,  National  Archives,  Washington,  DC. 

177 


"negroes  .  .  .  want  to  set  their  own  terms  for  next  year.  .  .  but  I  could  not  allow  everything 
they  wanted  —   thus  1/2  at  Oakley,  Holly  Ridge,  and  Duncannon  will  go."318 

And  go  they  did.  Or  else  they  simply  refused  to  work,  conducting  what  amounted  to  sit- 
down  strikes  on  the  job,  refusing  to  leave  and  refusing  to  labor.  The  Assistant  Provost 
Marshal  for  Concordia  Parish  had  his  hands  full  in  dealing  with  "strikes"  by  hands 
unsatisfied  with  working  conditions  and  wages  on  the  plantations.319  Such  things  had 
never  been  heard  of  before  in  the  Natchez  district.  John  McMurran,  Natchez  lawyer  and 
the  owner  of  Melrose,  echoed  a  common  sentiment  in  saying  to  Duncan  that  "nothing  can 
be  made  with  the  inefficiency  of  present  labor."32 

In  response  to  nearly  incessant  complaints,  Provost  Marshal  courts  tried  dozens  of 
freedmen  for  assault,  larceny,  perjury,  absence  without  leave,  and  vaguely  defined 
insubordination.  Sentences  ranged  from  jail  terms  and  duty  on  the  public  works  to  fines 
of  $5  or  $10  and  forfeiture  of  wages.321  One  officer  reported  on  a  "regular  organization 
of  white  men  who  employ  negroes  to  steal  cotton  for  them."322  But  historians  of  social 
history  have  to  be  very  careful  not  to  mistake  class  conflict  for  irresponsibility.  Larceny 
may  be  clear  and  simple  theft,  or  it  may  be  a  kind  of  expropriation;  but  insubordination 
is  often  quite  something  else:  a  conscious  challenge  of  rank,  authority,  and  the  order  of 
things. 

Whether  or  not  the  ex-slaves  were  inefficient  —  or  irresponsible  —  is  debatable,  but  there 
can  be  little  doubt  that  many  of  them  were  determined  to  test  their  freedom  by  acting 
freely.  The  black  deacons  of  the  Wall  Street  Baptist  Church,  for  instance,  shouldered  their 
white  ministers  aside  and  ran  the  Church  themselves  during  the  war,  eventually 
petitioning  the  director  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  in  Washington,  D.C.  for  continued 


318.  Stephen  Duncan,  Jr.  to  Stephen  Duncan,  Sr.,  January  11,  1863,  Duncan  Papers,  LSU,  Baton  Rouge, 
Louisiana. 

319.  Report  of  Maj.  George  G.  Reynolds,  August  1865,  BFAL,  Record  Group  105,  National  Archives. 
Washington,  D.C. 

320.  John  T.  McMurran  to  Stephen  Duncan,  July  22,  1865,  Duncan  Papers.  McMurran  owned  a  beautiful 
Natchez  estate,  Melrose,  and  two  Louisiana  (Moro  and  Riverside)  plantations  at  the  time  of  his  note  to 
Duncan.  McMurran's  Natchez  estate  was  located  close  to  the  LT.S.  Army  barracks  for  black  troops  in  Natchez. 
The  U.S.  Army  had  occupied  the  old  slave  market  at  the  Forks-of-the-road  near  Melrose  probably  because  its 
slave-pens  could  be  easily  converted  to  barracks.  Land  deep  maps  for  the  1880's  show  open  space,  a  pond  that 
was  probably  used  for  bathing  slaves  and  (later)  soldiers,  and  warehouse-like  buildings  at  the  Forks.  A 
McMurran  neighbor  and  relative  by  marriage,  Rosie  Quitman,  of  Monmouth  writes  in  her  diary  of  being  able 
to  see  the  soldiers  on  picket  duty  in  the  general  vicinity  of  Melrose.  An  entry  in  a  diary  kept  by  McMurran's 
daughter-in-law  tells  of  "Pa  McMurran"  being  wounded  by  a  black  soldier  on  picket  duty  somewhere  near 
Melrose.  According  to  the  diary,  the  soldier  was  then  court-martialed  and  hung  the  next  day.  No  records  of 
such  a  court-martial  have  turned  up  in  the  muster  books  of  the  black  regiments  at  this  writing  and  it  is 
unlikely  that  such  a  summary  execution  would  have  happened.  See  Grandma's  Diary  from  Melrose.  January 
10,  1865,  Melrose  File.  Historic  Natchez  Foundation.  Natchez,  Mississippi;  Diary  of  Rosalie  Quitman  Family 
Papers,  SHC.  Chapel  Hill,  North  Carolina. 

321.  Court  Record  of  Sub-Commissioners  of  Freedmen,  Concordia,  Louisiana,  May-September,  1865.  BFAL. 
Record  Group  105,  National  Archives,  Washington,  D.C. 

322.  Ibid..  Report  of  Major  George  D.  Reynolds.  August  1865. 

178 


authority  to  operate  the  establishment.  Their  petition  was  a  proud  expression  of  their 
loyalty  as  Unionists  —  in  contrast  to  its  white  church  members  —  as  well  as  an  appeal 
to  common  sense:  ninety  percent  of  the  church's  membership  was  black.323 

Proud,  too,  must  have  been  the  1080  black  children  who  filled  the  eleven  "colored"  schools 
of  Natchez.  Ninety  other  youngsters  studied  at  two  schools  across  the  river  in  Vidalia. 
Most  of  the  twenty-two  teachers  who  taught  blacks  in  the  district  were  members  of  the 
American  Missionary  Association  or  else  affiliated  with  the  Reformed  Presbyterian 
Cnurch.  But  two  of  the  town's  schools  were  owned  and  operated  by  "colored  women,  one 
of  whom  [wasl  very  well  educated."324 

The  Provost  Marshal  for  Natchez  handed  out  869  passes  to  blacks  in  the  town  who  were 
"employed  on  some  legitimate  business  and  supporting  themselves"  in  May  of  1865.  Three 
hundred  others  were  sent  to  camps  at  Vidalia  and  at  Davis  Bend.  The  same  officer 
registered  129  "Returns  of  Marriages  among  the  Freedmen,  solemnized  by  duly  authorized 
ministers. 

A  few  months  earlier,  in  March  of  1865,  Federal  authorities  in  Natchez  had  wanted  to 
round  up  all  "destitute"  freedmen  (and  freedwomen)  in  town  for  transport  to  a  plantation 
colony  about  three  miles  from  Vidalia,  to  a  camp  at  nearby  Washington,  and  to  the  Davis 
Bend  colony:  "As  the  city  of  Natchez  is  crowded  far  beyond  its  capacity  with  a  large  and 
idle  population,  I  am  removing  all  freedmen  without  visible  means  of  support,  or  living  in 
unhealthy  houses  and  shanties,  to  the  colony  —  this  is  to  prevent  spread  of  disease."  But 
the  order  to  evict  Natchez  freedmen  was  stopped  on  directions  from  the  War  Department, 
which  were  interpreted  to  mean  that  the  Provost  Marshal  had  no  authority  to  say  where 
free  people  should  live.  As  a  result,  those  Natchez  blacks  who  had  survived  the  death 
camps  found  themselves  in  a  relatively  independent  position  at  war's  end:  impoverished, 
illiterate,  and  without  meaningful  skills  to  be  sure,  but  living  on  their  own  and  looking 
ahead  with  determination  to  what  the  future  would  bring.326 


Blacks  throughout  the  district,  clearly,  used  every  opportunity  available  during  the  Civil 
War  to  challenge  the  constraints  that  all  sides  had  tried  to  place  upon  them.  Indeed,  the 
story  of  the  Civil  War,  when  told  from  the  perspective  of  the  enslaved,  is  a  tale  of 
resistance,  combat,  death,  and  a  dramatic  struggle  to  survive.  Almost  overnight,  people 
who  had  been  enslaved  for  over  two  centuries  began  to  act  like  free  men  and  women  ready 
to  take  on  the  world. 


323.  Ibid.,  Edward  Clayton,  Tony  Jones,  Darnell  Halty,  and  Henry  Johnson  to  Maj.  Gen.  0.0.  Howard,  July 
3,  1865. 

324.  Ibid.,  James  Yeatman  to  Maj.  Gen.  0.0.  Howard,  May  25,  1865. 

325.  Ibid.,  Report  of  Maj.  George  D.  Reynolds,  May  1,  1865. 

326.  Ibid.,  Maj.  George  D.  Reynolds  to  Brig.  Gen.  W.E.  Strong,  Inspector  General,  March  25.  1865. 

179 


FREEDOMS  PROMISE  FREEDOMS  REALITY 


The  ending  of  the  Civil  War  launched  the  African-Americans  of  Natchez  on  a  grand 
experiment  unlike  anything  they  had  known  as  slaves.  By  the  summer  of  1865,  all 
Natchez  blacks  were  free.  No  matter  that  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  still  awaited 
ratification,  slavery  was  dead.  But  what  was  to  happen  next?  Where  would  the  once 
enslaved  go?  Whom  were  they  to  trust?  How  would  they  live?  Work?  Cope?  The  future  held 
out  such  bright  promise  that  little  could  be  seen  clearly  for  the  brilliance  of  it  all.32' 

The  future  appeared  far  less  promising,  however,  for  the  district's  former  masters;  but,  like 
the  freedmen  themselves,  they  were  determined  to  make  the  most  of  it.  Firstly,  almost  all 
district  whites  wanted  to  bind  ex-slaves  to  plantations  on  contracts  for  yearly  wages. 
Cotton  prices  were  high  and  a  good  crop  would  do  much  to  redeem  the  lost  fortunes  of  war. 
Secondly,  something  had  to  be  done,  all  whites  generally  agreed,  about  controlling  blacks 
now  that  slavery's  iron  rule  no  longer  held.  Thirdly,  the  freedman's  political  status  had  to 
be  carefully  delineated  so  as  to  not  to  disenfranchise  the  white  minority  by  extending 
suffrage  to  the  black  majority.  Although  some  district  whites  favored  suffrage  for  literate, 
property  owning  black  males,  most  opposed  the  idea.  Perhaps  a  few  blacks  might  be 
allowed  to  own  town  property  or  to  testify  in  court  cases  involving  other  blacks,  but  the 


327.  The  relevant  secondary  literature  affording  insight  to  the  black  experience  in  Natchez  in  the  post-war 
era  from  1865  to  1880  is  immense.  Among  the  most  important  works  are  the  following:  Martha  Mitchell 
Bigelow,  "Freedmen  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  1862-1865,"  Civil  War  History  VIII  (March.  1962).  pp.  38-47; 
Ronald  L.F.  Davis,  Good  and  Faithful  Labor:  From  Slavery  to  Sharecropping  in  the  Natchez  District.  1860- 
1890  (Westport,  Conn.,  1982);  Michael  W.  Fitzgerald,  The  Union  League  Movement  in  the  Deep  South:  Politics 
and  Agricultural  Change  During  Reconstruction  (Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1989);  James  Wilford  Garner, 
Reconstruction  in  Mississippi  (Gloucester,  Mass.,  1961,  reprint  of  1901  edition);  Kenneth  S.  Greenberg.  "The 
Civil  War  and  the  Redistribution  of  Land:  Adams  County,  Mississippi,  1860-1870."  Agricultural  History  XLII 
(April,  1978),  pp.  292-305;  William  Ivy  Hair,  Bourbonism  and  Agrarian  Protest:  Louisiana  Politics,  1877-1900 
(Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1969);  William  C.  Harris.  The  Day  of  the  Carpetbagger:  Republican  Reconstruction  in 
Mississippi  (Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1979);  Presidential  Reconstruction  in  Mississippi  (Baton  Rouge.  La..  1967); 
Richard  J.  Haws  and  Michael  V.  Namorato,  "Race,  Property  Rights,  and  the  Economic  Consequences  of 
Reconstruction:  A  Case  Study,"  Vanderbilt  Law  Review  32  (1979),  pp.  305-326;  Jane  Sharp  Hermann.  The 
Pursuit  a  Dream  (New  York,  1981);  William  E.  Highsmith.  "Louisiana  Landholding  During  War  and 
Reconstruction,"  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly  XXXVIII  (January,  1955),  pp.  39-54;  George  D.  Humphrey, 
"The  Failure  of  the  Mississippi  Freedmen's  Bureau  in  Black  Labor  Relations,  1865-1867."  The  Journal  of 
Mississippi  History  XLV  (February,  1983).  pp.  23-37;  Gerald  David  Jaynes,  Branches  Without  Roots:  Genesis 
of  the  Black  Working  Class  in  the  American  South,  1866-1882  (New  York.  1986);  Marshal  Scott  Legan,  "Disease 
and  the  Freedmen  in  Mississippi  during  Reconstruction,"  The  Journal  of  the  History  of  Medicine  and  Allied 
Sciences  XXVIII  (July,  1973),  pp.  257-267;  Billy  W.  Libby.  "Senator  Hiram  Revels  of  Mississippi  Takes  His 
Seat,  January-february,  1870,"  The  Journal  of  Mississippi  History  XXXVII  (November.  1975).  pp.  381-394; 
John  R.  Lynch,  The  Autobiography  of  John  Roy  Lynch  (Chicago.  1970.  reprint  edition);  William  Alexander 
Mabry,  "Disfranchisement  of  the  Negro  in  Mississippi,  "The  Journal  of  Southern  History  IV  (August.  1938), 
pp.  318-333;  Neil  R.  McMillen,  Dark  Journey:  Black  Mississippians  in  the  Age  of  Jim  Crow  (Urbana,  111.. 
19891;  Donald  G.  Nieman,  "The  Freedmen's  Bureau  and  the  Mississippi  Black  Code,"  The  Journal  of 
Mississippi  History  XL  (May.  19781,  pp.  91-118;  Whitelaw  Reid,  After  the  War  -  A  Tour  of  the  Southern  States. 
1865-1866  (New  York,  N.Y..  1965.  reprint  of  1866  edition);  George  A.  Sewell  and  Margaret  L.  Dwight, 
Mississippi  Black  History  Makers  (Jackson,  1984  edition);  Jesse  Thomas  Wallace.  A  History  of  Negroes  of 
Mississippi  from  1865-1890  (Clinton,  Miss.,  1927);  Vernon  Lane  Wharton,  The  Negro  in  Mississippi,  1865-1890 
(New  York,  NY.,  1965,  reprint  of  1947  edition);  B.I.  Wiley,  "Vicissitudes  of  Early  Reconstruction  Farming  in 
the  Lower  Mississippi  Valley,"  The  Journal  of  Southern  History  III  (July.  1937),  pp.  441-452;  Theodore  B. 
Wilson,  The  Black  Codes  of  the  South  (University,  Ala.,  1965). 

180 


majority  of  ex-slaves  should  accept  —  it  was  commonly  believed  —  their  lot  as  field 
hands,  secure  in  their  families  and  the  protection  of  their  white  employers.328 

Accordingly,  Natchez  whites  supported  the  passage  and  implementation  of  the  infamous 
Mississippi  Black  Codes  designed  to  define  the  rules  of  freedom  for  Mississippi  blacks. 
Briefly  told,  the  laws,  passed  by  the  Mississippi  Legislature  in  1865,  deprived  blacks  of 
suffrage,  the  right  to  testify  in  court  proceedings  involving  whites,  the  right  to  own  or 
lease  rural  lands,  and  the  right  to  be  unemployed.  All  blacks  were  required  to  have  signed 
contracts  as  plantation  laborers  or  else  permits  to  work  elsewhere.  Freedmen  not  under 
contracts  or  with  approved  permits  would  be  arrested  as  vagrants,  subject  to  a  $50  fine 
and  ten  days  in  jail.  Those  unable  to  pay  the  fine  could  be  hired  out  as  plantation  workers 
at  cost.  Contracted  workers,  moreover,  could  be  arrested  as  vagrants  should  they  abscond 
from  their  employment  prior  to  the  termination  of  their  contracts.  Black  children,  up  to 
the  age  of  18,  could  be  apprenticed  to  responsible  white  employers.  No  freedmen, 
moreover,  could  carry  or  own  firearms  without  a  license.329 

Mississippi's  Black  Codes  met  with  a  wave  of  protest  from  northern  whites  and  southern 
blacks  alike.  So  overwhelming  was  the  opposition  that  even  previous  supporters  of  the 
Codes  in  Mississippi  began  to  back  away  from  them.  The  head  of  the  Freedman's  Bureau, 
Maj.  Gen.  Oliver  O.  Howard,  instructed  his  Mississippi  officers  not  to  enforce  the  Code's 
strict  provisions  regarding  property,  firearms,  apprenticeship  laws,  and  court  testimony. 
Within  a  year  of  their  passage  the  Codes  were  revoked,  but  not  before  they  had  helped  fuel 
the  struggle  between  the  nation's  Republican  Congress  and  President  Andrew  Johnson; 
a  struggle  that  eventually  witnessed  the  onset  of  Congressional  Reconstruction.33 

With  the  coming  of  the  1870s,  Mississippi  moved  from  Military  Reconstruction  into  a 
period  of  civilian  government  in  which  black  and  white  Republicans  vied  with  white 
Democrats  for  political  control  of  local  and  state  offices.  Black  Mississippians,  including 
several  prominent  Natchez  residents,  won  (or  were  appointed  to)  high  government 
positions  in  the  state,  and  even  served  in  the  U.  S.  Senate.  But  the  role  of  blacks  in 
Mississippi  politics  was  always  dependent  upon  the  willingness  of  the  federal  government 
to  use  soldiers  in  the  protection  of  black  suffrage.  In  those  places  where  soldiers  were 
present,  such  as  at  Natchez  and  Vicksburg,  blacks  held  local  office,  participated  in 
Republican  political  organizations,  and  achieved  a  measure  of  full  citizenship  for  a  time. 
In  the  rest  of  Mississippi,  however,  the  late  1860s  and  early  1870s  saw  the  rise  of  armed 
bands  of  state  militia,  irregular  troops,  and  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  as  nightriding  terrorists 
intent  on  eliminating  black  participation  in  politics.331 

Reconstruction  ended  when  the  last  federal  troops  pulled  out  of  Mississippi  in  1877. 
Thereafter  Mississippi   blacks   were   forced   to   fight   a   holding  action   in   which   they 


328.  See  especially  Davis,  Good  And  Faithful  Labor,  pp.  58-169;  Reid,  After  the  War,  pp.  475-575;  Wharton, 
The  Negro  In  Mississippi,  pp.  91-105. 

329.  Ibid.,  Fitzgerald,   The   Union   League  Movement  in   the  Deep  South,  pp.   1-72;  Harris,  Presidential 
Reconstruction  in  Mississippi,  pp.  1-185. 

330.  Ibid.,  Garner,  Reconstruction  in  Mississippi,  pp.  75-257;  Natchez  Democrat,  January  8,  1866.  p.  2. 

331.  Ibid. 

181 


essentially  lost  their  suffrage,  faced  heavy  restrictions  on  their  social  rights,  and 
experienced  a  hellish  existence  betwixt  slavery  and  freedom  tantamount  to  a  caste  milieu 
of  clear  and  definite  limitations.332 

Although  it  is  correct  to  say  that  full  citizenship  for  Natchez  blacks  was  eventually  lost 
to  them,  the  promise  of  freedom  was  never  just  an  empty  or  completely  forlorn  gesture. 
Indeed,  Natchez  blacks,  along  with  others  in  the  state,  defined  the  context  of  freedom's 
promise,  shaped  its  course,  and  stood  their  ground  on  issues  they  deemed 
uncompromisable.  If  the  promise  of  full  freedom  was  never  attained,  it  was  not  because 
none  had  struggled  to  achieve  it. 


GOOD  AND  FAITHFUL  LABOR 

The  editor  of  the  Natchez  Democrat  told  his  readers  in  1866  that  "no  supernatural  vision" 
was  needed  to  see  that  the  "child  is  already  born  who  will  behold  the  last  negro  in  the 
State  of  Mississippi."  Other  whites  generally  agreed.  The  belief  was  not  that  the  former 
slaves  would  leave  the  state  wholesale,  but  that  they  would  all  perish  simply  because  they 
were  incapable  of  taking  care  of  themselves.  "With  no  one  to  provide  for  the  aged  and 
young,"  the  editorial  continued,  "the  sick  and  the  helpless  incompetent  to  provide  for 
themselves,  and  brought  unprepared  into  competition  with  the  superior  intelligence,  tack, 
and  muscle  of  free  white  labor,  they  [the  ex-slaves]  will  surely  and  speedily  perish." 

Such  wishful  thinking  enabled  planters  to  justify  the  Black  Codes  as  legislation  beneficial 
to  the  blacks  themselves.  In  fact,  however,  freedmen  did  not  perish.  Nor  did  they  become 
wards  of  their  former  masters.  Rather,  the  period  from  1865  to  1880  witnessed  a 
confrontation  between  the  races,  and  classes,  in  which  Natchez  freedmen  resisted 
wardship  and  managed  to  stake  out  living  space  for  themselves  independent  of  their  white 
employers.  It  began  with  a  struggle  over  land. 

Natchez  district  blacks  emerged  from  slavery  with  several  clear  goals  in  mind.  Most  of 
them  wanted  land  to  farm  on  their  own  as  the  basic  condition  of  their  freedom.  This  was 
not  to  be  unexpected  since  it  was  widely  rumored  that  the  Federal  government  would 
confiscate  Rebel  property  and  redistribute  it  to  those  loyal  ex-slaves  who  had  helped  end 
the  rebellion,  especially  those  who  had  served  as  soldiers  in  the  Union  Army.  Much  of  the 
initial  effort  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  was  taken  up  in  squelching  this  rumor.  Numerous 
whites  in  the  state  were  convinced  that  blacks  planned  to  take  the  land  by  force  in  an 
uprising  at  Christmas,  1865. 334 

The  hope  for  land,  however,  was  largely  a  pipe  dream.  It  was  inevitable  that  neither 

Congress  nor  President  Johnson  would  support  so  radical  a  move  as  the  confiscation  o( 
private  property  for  either  class  or  racial  goals.  No  hard  evidence  exists,  moreover,  of  a 


332.  See  especially  McMillen,  Dark  Journey. 

333.  Natchez,  Democrat,  January  8,  1866,  p.  2. 


334.     For  a  general  discussion  of  this  issue  see  Eric  Foner,  Reconstruction:  America's  Unfinished  Revolution 
1863-1877  (New  York.  N.Y..  1989).  pp.  78-170. 

182 


planned  insurgency  among  disgruntled  blacks.  This  is  not  to  say  that  freedmen  were  not 
determined  to  act.  If  they  could  not  have  land,  they  would  have  the  next  best  thing  to  it: 
tenancy.  Thousands  of  blacks  throughout  the  Natchez  hinterland  refused  to  contract  in 
1865,  1866,  and  1867,  unless  they  were  allowed  to  work  on  family  plots  under  their  own 
supervision.  Some  would  call  the  new  labor  arrangement  sharecropping  (in  which  the 
freedmen  received  a  share  of  the  crop  for  wages),  others  would  call  it  share  tenancy  (in 
which  freedmen  paid  a  share  of  their  crop  as  rent).  The  key  distinction  between  the  two 
was  over  the  resources  contributed  by  the  freedmen.  Those  able  to  supply  mules  and  seed 
functioned  as  share  tenants;  those  who  offered  only  their  labor  worked  on  share  wages. 
In  most  cases,  however,  the  issue  of  pay  was  less  important  to  blacks  than  the  issue  of 
independence  from  supervision  on  a  daily  basis.  Freedmen  simply  refused  to  contract 
except  on  terms  that  enabled  them  to  avoid  the  close  overlording  of  their  daily  work 
routine  as  had  been  the  case  in  slavery.335 

The  low  wage  experiment,  initially  tried  by  the  Federal  government  on  leased  and 
abandoned  plantations  during  the  war,  had  been  unpopular  with  most  district  freedmen 
because  it  retained  many  of  the  features  of  slavery  (gang  labor  and  close  supervision)  with 
few  of  the  advantages  associated  with  the  better  run  antebellum  plantations.  Freedmen 
were  docked  wages  for  time  lost,  for  being  late  for  work,  for  poor  work,  and  for  countless 
other  infringements  of  the  work  routine.  Numerous  employers,  moreover,  had  defrauded 
freedmen  by  running  off  once  the  crops  were  gathered  without  paying  their  wage  bills  at 
the  end  of  the  season.  But  most  unsettling  of  all  was  the  fact  that  a  system  of  yearly 
wages  involved  a  work  routine  similar  to  slavery,  one  in  which  workers  were  compensated 
with  such  low  pay  that  few  freedmen  were  able  to  save  enough  from  their  wages  to  buy 
land  or  to  pay  a  fixed  rent.  Low  pay  and  a  slave-like  supervision  on  the  job  resulted  in  an 
outcry  by  district  freedmen  in  favor  of  working  on  shares  as  the  only  way  to  have  some 
control  over  their  lives. 

A  careful  study  of  mortgage  records  and  the  papers  of  the  Freedman's  Bureau  indicates 
that  most  district  fieldhands  worked  on  a  combined  fixed  wage  and  small  share  basis  in 
1864,  moved  to  shares  —  usually  one-third  to  one-half  the  crop  as  wages  —  in  1866,  and 
then  adopted  share  tenancy  —  paying  one-half  to  two-thirds  of  the  crop  as  rent  —  in  the 
1870s.  A  few  black  families  leased  lands  in  the  district  as  fixed  rent  tenants,  and  a  very 
few  farmed  small  parcels  of  land  as  owner-operators.  By  1880,  numerous  others,  probably 
unattached  single  men  and  women,  worked  as  fixed  wage  hands.'      (See  Table  16) 

Clearly,  the  majority  of  district  freedmen  in  the  Natchez  hinterland  were  sharecroppers 
by  1880.  The  working  arrangement  on  J.  A.  Gillespie's  Hollywood  plantation  in  Adams 
County  was  somewhat  typical  for  the  district.  Gillespie,  largely  at  the  insistence  of  the 
freedmen  on  his  place,  had  given  up  trying  to  impose  fixed  wages,  mass  contracts,  and 
gang  working  conditions  on  his  work  force  by  1868.  Instead,  the  old  planter  contracted 
with  squads  of  workers  (usually  composed  of  a  family  unit),  paying  them  a  share  of  the 
crops  as  wages.  Eight  or  nine  hands  typically  worked  for  one-third  of  the  crop,  with 


335.  Davis,  Good  and  Faithful  Labor,  p.  59-186. 

336.  Ibid. 

337.  Ibid. 

183 


Gillespie  paying  half  the  cost  of  preparing  the  crop  for  market.  Others  on  the  place  were 
hired  as  wage  hands.  Beyond  the  fact  that  the  wage  hands  worked  for  a  fixed  wage,  little 
difference  existed  between  them  and  the  sharecroppers.  Their  contracts  stipulated  the 
crops  to  be  planted,  in  what  proportions,  and  the  conditions  governing  the  issue  of  tools, 
teams,  and  supplies  —  the  latter  to  be  drawn  from  the  plantation  store  and  charged 
against  wages  earned.  Gillespie  retained  overall  supervisory  authority  with  the  power  of 
ensuring  the  proper  care  of  tools,  teams,  and  property.  If  the  crop  fell  behind,  Gillespie 
could  employ  additional  hands  at  the  squad's  expense.  Freedmen  were  allowed  use  of  the 
plantation  gin,  but  only  under  the  strictest  supervision.  All  hands  on  the  placp  agreed, 
moreover,  to  cut  wood  and  shuck  corn  for  the  Gillespie  household.3. 


Table  16.    Freedmen  Agricultural  Families 
Adams  Countv  and  Concordia  Parish,  1880* 


Status 

Adams 

Concordia 

# 

Family 

fr 

# 

Family 

(c 

Owner 

152 

760 

11 

4 

20 

0 

Tenants 

251 

1,225 

18 

98 

588 

3 

Sharecroppers 

991 

4,955 

71 

1,009 

5,045 

34 

Total  Farmers 

1,394 

6,970 

100 

1,111 

5.653 

100 

Full-time  Wage  Hands 

264 

792 

28 

514 

1542 

28 

Casual  Wage  Hands 

663 

1,989 

72 

1,340 

4,020 

72 

Total  Hands 

927 

2,781 

100 

1.854 

5,562 

100 

Total 

2,327 

9,751 

2,965 

11,215 

Source:  U.S.  Census  (1880),  Manuscript  Population  and  Agricultural  Schedules.  Adams  County, 
Mississippi  and  Concordia  Parish,  Louisiana. 


In  1869,  Gillespie  began  contracting  with  his  squads  for  one-half  the  crop  as  rent;  the 
squads  paid  their  expenses  out  of  their  share  of  the  crop.  The  wage  hands  now  began  to 
function  as  a  squad  of  extra  hands  to  be  employed  at  the  croppers'  expense  should  they 
be  needed  to  keep  the  crops  in  order.  The  next  year,  in  1870,  Gillespie  began  leasing  lands 
to  his  former  slaves  for  a  fixed  rent  in  cotton.  This  practice  remained  the  set  terms  of  labor 
for  the  ensuing  decade.339 


338.  See  Contracts.  January  1,  May  5,  1868,  J. A.  Gillespie  Papers,  LSU,  Baton  Rouge.  Louisiana. 

339.  Ibid.,  Contracts,  January  1869;  January  20,  September  28,  1870;  January  12.  1871;  1890.  See  also  the 
Liens  and  Mortgage  Records  for  Adams  County  and  Concordia  Parish,  1865-1900,  Office  of  Records,  Natchez. 
Mississippi  and  Vidalia.  Louisiana. 


184 


A  similar  story  could  be  told  about  nearly  every  plantation  in  the  district.  What  is  most 
striking  about  the  numerous  contracts  filed  in  the  mortgage  records  is  the  absence  of 
language  detailing  the  daily  supervision  of  the  freedman's  work  routine.  The  contracts  on 
the  Waterloo  plantation  in  1864  were  a  litany  of  rules  and  regulations:  detailed 
instructions  to  the  overseer  to  forfeit  wages  and  rations  for  insubordination,  short  work, 
being  tardy,  and  a  host  of  other  possible  work  infractions.'-40  By  1866,  most  of  the 
Waterloo  hands  refused  to  contract  under  such  conditions  of  labor.  Instead,  they  left  for 
Natchez  or  other  plantations  in  the  neighborhood.  Eventually,  most  planters  agreed  to  the 
essential  terms  demanded  by  the  freedmen  —  family  cabins,  the  right  to  come  and  go  as 
they  pleased,  shares  or  a  fixed  rent  over  yearly  wages,  and  no  daily  supervision  of  their 
work  routine.  The  contract  on  the  Hermitage  plantation  in  Adams  County  in  1870  was 
typical:  the  landlord  leased  the  entire  place  to  twenty-six  freedmen  for  five  years  at  a  rent 
of  eighteen  bales  of  cotton  per  year.  A  head  man  was  named  from  among  the  workers,  with 
the  clear  stipulation  that  he  "was  not  to  interfere  in  individual  operations  except  to 
prevent  abuse  of  oxen  or  other  things  of  common  use."341 

Few  antebellum  planters  would  have  agreed  to  such  terms  on  their  own.  Rather,  former 
slaveowning  landlords  in  the  post-war  era  acquiesced  to  the  arrangements  because  of  a 
combination  of  complex  interlocking  factors:  firstly,  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  although 
generally  sympathetic  to  the  needs  of  white  employers  and  landlords,  insisted  on  the  right 
of  freedmen  to  seek  out  the  best  contract  available  to  them  from  competing  planters.  The 
Bureau  might  well  insist  that  freedmen  live  up  to  their  contracts  once  they  were  signed, 
but  the  freedom  to  negotiate  contracts  satisfied  the  Bureau's  definition  of  what  freedom 
meant  in  theory  and  in  practice.  It  was  in  this  sense  that  the  Bureau  embraced  the  free 
labor  ideology  prevalent  in  the  North.  For  the  Bureau,  regardless  of  the  individual  officers 
involved,  freedom  was  less  a  question  of  suffrage,  civil  rights,  and  social  justice  than  it  was 
a  question  of  freedmen  being  assured  the  earnings  of  their  labor  and  the  opportunity  to 
make  the  most  of  themselves  on  the  basis  of  their  own  hard  work.  Freedom  to  contract, 
according  to  reasonable  terms  of  labor,  set  the  context  for  the  emergence  of  sharecropping 
in  the  district.342 

Secondly,  dozens  of  Northerners  came  into  the  district  in  the  first  few  years  after  the  Civil 
War  to  try  their  hand  at  planting.  Some  recruited  workers  from  as  far  away  as  Georgia 
and  Virginia.  Some  tried  importing  European  farm  laborers.  But  most  sought  to  obtain 
hands  by  agreeing  to  shares  and  family  work  arrangements.  For  Northerners,  the  issue 
was  simple:  what  did  it  matter  if  the  old  slave  quarters  were  broken  up,  if  the  overseer 
had  to  move  off  the  place,  if  the  big  house  were  to  be  vacated  or  given  over  to  freedmen 
families  as  long  as  the  landlord's  agent  could  visit  the  place  occasionally  to  check  on  the 
crop,  could  bring  in  extra  workers  at  the  cropper's  expense,  and  could  supervise  the 
distribution  of  rations?  It  seemed  of  little  consequence  to  most  Northerners  that  freedmen 
wanted  to  contract  in  a  fashion  that  resembled  a  family  farming  environment.  Moreover, 


340.  See  "Rules  for  Working  Freedmen,  February  22,  1864,  W.J.  Minor  Papers.  LSU,  Baton  Rouge,  Louisiana. 

341.  Contracts  between  Thomas  B.  Shields  and  Freedmen,  April  2.  1870,  Office  of  Records,  Adams  County, 
Natchez  District  —  A  Case  Study,"  Journal  of  Negro  History,  LXII  (1977),  pp.  60-80. 

342.  Davis,  Good  and  Faithful  Labor,  pp.  58-88;  "The  U.S.  Army  and  the  Origins  of  Sharecropping  in  the 
Natchez  District  —  A  Case  Study."   Journal  of  Negro  History,  LXII  (1977),  pp.  60-80. 

185 


share  wages  and  share  tenancy  carried  with  them  several  important  cost  advantages  that, 
in  Northern  eyes,  more  than  compensated  landlords  for  the  loss  of  supervision. 
Sharecropping  enable  the  employer/landlord  to  share  the  risks  of  production  with  the 
workers  in  ways  not  possible  under  fixed  wages.  If  ruined  levees  should  break,  the  army 
worm  devour  the  crop,  or  a  cholera  epidemic  dissipate  the  labor  force,  half  the  loss  — 
under  share-cropping  —  would  be  borne  by  the  workers.343 

Thirdly,  it  must  be  remembered  just  how  devastated  was  the  Natchez  economy  and  the 
old  planter  class  by  the  war.  Scores  of  plantations  had  been  abandoned.  Levees  up  and 
down  the  river  had  been  destroyed.  Most  of  the  work  animals  had  been  confiscated  or 
killed  by  Union  and  Confederate  forces.  Perhaps  one-third  of  the  district's  male  planter 
class  was  dead  or  crippled.  Fields  had  gone  to  weeds  and  swamp.  As  a  result,  few  planters 
emerged  from  the  war  with  the  financial  ability  to  start  planting  again  on  their  own. 
Those  who  had  managed  to  procure  the  capital  for  mules,  seed,  rations,  and  wages  were 
ruined  by  the  devastating  floods  of  1866  and  1867;  and  what  was  saved  from  the  flood 
waters,  especially  on  the  high  grounds  of  Adams  County,  was  taken  by  the  ravenous  "army 
worm"  that  descended  upon  the  district  like  an  invading  horde  in  the  immediate  post-war 
years.  By  1868,  the  number  of  plantations  on  the  auction  block  for  uncollected  taxes 
ranged  from  fifty  to  more  than  one  hundred.  Under  such  conditions,  antebellum  planters 
(who  had  fought  a  war  to  avoid  dealing  with  "freedmen")  began  competing  with  one 
another  for  the  services  of  the  men  and  women  they  had  once  owned.344 

Fourthly,  in  the  uncertain  days  following  the  occupation  of  Natchez  by  Union  forces, 
outside  merchants  had  swarmed  into  the  area  hoping  to  supply  workers  on  leased 
government  lands.  The  U.  S.  Army  issued  trade  permits  on  a  random  basis  at  first,  and 
then  with  an  eye  to  favoring  U.  S.  soldiers,  disabled  veterans,  and  those  "old  families"  who 
had  taken  up  the  supply  business  as  a  last  resort.  More  than  a  few  U.  S.  soldiers  joined 
in  partnership  with  resident  merchants,  contributing  capital  and  connections  to  eastern 
wholesalers.  In  any  case,  the  district  was  literally  overrun  with  storemen  by  the  end  of 
hostilities,  setting  the  stage  for  the  eventual  decline  of  the  landowner's  supply  connection 
to  his  workers.  The  matter  was  simple  enough:  freedmen  much  preferred  doing  business 
with  peddlers  and  storemen  because  merchants  almost  always  competed  with  one  another 
in  the  price  of  goods;  and  dealing  with  storemen,  most  importantly,  reduced  the  planter's 
role  in  farming.  Accordingly,  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  made  an  important  policy  decision 
of  significant  long-range  consequence  when  it  decreed  that  the  freedman's  claim  to  the 
crop  for  wages  exceeded  the  landlord's  claim  to  the  crop  for  rent.  Freedmen  could  thus 
pledge  their  shares  of  the  cotton  for  supplies  furnished  by  peddlers  and  merchants.  So 
quickly  did  this  practice  fasten  itself  onto  the  district  that  many  landlords  gave  up  the 
supply  business  altogether  in  favor  of  outside  merchants.345 

That  development  was  soon  followed  by  several  closely  related  moves  which  tightened  the 
merchant's  hold  on  freedmen  and  planters  in  ways  unprecedented  in  antebellum  times. 
Numerous  planters,  trying  to  stay  in  operation  after  the  disastrous  crops  of  1866  and  1867, 


343.  Davis,  Good  and  Faithful  Labor,  pp.  89-1551. 

344.  Ibid.,  pp.  59-151. 

345.  Ibid. 

186 


gave  local  merchants  a  first  lien  on  their  share  of  the  crops  due  them  as  landlords.  In  this 
case,  local  merchants  controlled  the  freedman's  crop  as  collateral  for  supplies  advanced  as 
well  as  the  landlord's  crop  for  capital,  mules,  and  tools  advanced  for  planting.  Time  and 
time  again,  planters  moved  to  leasing  their  plantations  to  merchants  outright  —  giving 
up  the  business  of  active  plantation  management  and  becoming  more  like  a  class  of 
rentiers.  The  merchants,  on  the  other  hand,  found  themselves  operating  like  landlords, 
with  the  important  difference  that  they  had  little  interest  in  the  daily  supervision  of  the 
plantation.    Sharecropping,    in    these    circumstances,    seemed    like    the    ideal    work 

OK 

arrangement.' 

Variations  of  the  above  development  played  themselves  out  in  the  two  decades  after  the 
Civil  War  with  striking  impact  on  the  freedmen  in  the  Natchez  district.  Merchants 
Singleton  and  Young,  for  instance,  "united  as  partners"  with  freedmen,  in  1874,  in  forty- 
two  family  contracts  on  five  plantations,  receiving  one  bale  of  cotton  for  every  six  acres 
farmed.  The  merchant  "partners"  furnished  all  supplies  in  return  for  "a  pledge  and  a 
privilege  on  the  crop  to  be  made  for  rent,  and  fa]  special  lien  on  the  crop  for  supplies 
advanced."  Vidalia  supply  merchant,  Isaac  Friedler,  had  nearly  one  hundred  accounts 
with  sharecropping  families  on  seventeen  plantations  in  1874.  By  1889,  Friedler  serviced 
several  hundred  accounts  on  thirty-four  plantations,  piling  up  a  supply  bill  in  excess  of 
$25,000.  Included  in  the  accounts  were  mules  as  well  as  lands.348  It  was  not  uncommon 
to  find  several  merchants  doing  business  on  the  same  plantation  but  with  different 
families  of  freedmen.  In  some  cases,  freedmen  drew  supplies  from  competing  merchants, 
binding  their  crops  among  the  suppliers  in  fractional  amounts.  Occasionally,  landlords 
supplied  their  freedman  croppers  by  sending  them  to  local  merchants  with  whom  they  [the 
planters]  enjoyed  a  line  of  credit.349 

Once  sharecropping  was  initiated  in  the  district,  the  life  of  black  and  white  farmers  and 
landlords  was  never  the  same  again.  Although  a  great  many  district  plantations  remained 
in  the  hands  of  their  white  antebellum  owners,  Natchez  district  landlords  were  no  longer 
planters  in  the  antebellum  sense  of  the  word.  Gang  labor  had  disappeared  almost 
completely  by  1880  in  favor  of  family  tenant  patches.  Merchants  rather  than  landlords 
more  frequently  made  the  crucial  decisions  of  what  to  plant  and  which  resources  would 
be  used  in  planting.  In  time,  the  state  legislature  gave  merchants  a  first  claim  on  the  crop 
for  advances  made  in  making  the  crop  that  superseded  the  landlord's  claim  for  rent.  With 


346.  Ibid. 

347.  Contracts,  January  24.  1874.  Liens  and  Mortgage  Records,  Office  of  records.  Concordia  Parish,  Vidalia. 
Louisiana. 

348.  Contracts,  August  13,  1874;  August  11.  1889,  Liens  and  Mortgage  Records,  Office  of  Records.  Concordia 
Parish,  Vidalia,  Louisiana. 

349.  Davis,  Good  and  Faithful  Labor,  pp.  133-151. 

187 


such  crop  lien  legislation  in  place,  there  was  little  likelihood  that  the  old  antebellum 
planter  class  would  reemerge  as  active  managers  of  gang  labor. 

With  gang  labor  dead  largely  because  of  the  freedman's  refusal  to  accept  it,  the  plantation 
scene  underwent  significant  alteration.  Most  important  were  the  modifications  in  life  style. 
The  old  slave  quarters  were  broken  up,  with  the  slave  cabins  repositioned  throughout  the 
plantation  on  family  plots.  The  work  routine  was  controlled  by  the  workers  themselves, 
resulting  in  drastic  reductions  in  time  devoted  to  farming.  In  sharecropping,  freedmen  left 
their  fields  to  hunt  and  fish  if  they  felt  like  hunting  and  fishing,  to  visit  town  and  stores 
for  shopping,  and  to  take  a  rest  from  the  midday  heat.  Some  of  them  carried  firearms  to 
the  fields  to  shoot  rabbits  and  turkeys.  Although  the  evidence  is  far  from  conclusive  at  this 
writing,  a  good  case  can  be  made  supporting  the  idea  that  the  reductions  in  time  devoted 
to  farming  were  of  little  real  consequence  in  terms  of  efficiency  or  the  productivity  of  labor. 
Much  of  the  from  dawn-to-dusk  work  routine  on  the  slave  plantation  was  probably  aimed 
at  keeping  hands  busy  rather  than  being  essential  to  crop  yields.351 

One  dramatic  difference  between  the  old  slave  plantation  and  the  post-war  work 
environment  was  the  new  role  of  black  women.  Planter  William  Mercer  received  a  letter 
from  his  overseer,  Wilmer  Shields,  in  March  of  1867,  complaining  of  how  difficult  it  was 
to  manage  the  female  wage  hands  on  Mercer's  Adams  County  plantation  :  ".  .  .my  patience 
is  sorely  taken  with  the  women.  .  .  —  it  is  useless  to  talk  any  more  to  them.  .  .  .as  soon 
as  one  of  them  conceives,  or  thinks  herself  pregnant,  she  gives  up  work  altogether.  We 
have  four  at  B  who  have  not  been  in  the  field  this  year,  and  probably  will  not  go  during 
the  balance  of  1867."  At  another  point,  Mercer  confided  to  his  journal  of  "suckler 
difficulty  —  arranged  by  their  losing  1/4  their  time  etc.  Get  2  hours  each  day."  Later  he 
noted:  "Harriet  &  Amelia  nursing  over  12  months.  Disobeyed  order  to  quit  suckling."  It 
was  just  this  sort  of  conflict  that  freedmen  hoped  to  avoid  by  sharecropping,  and  while  the 
verdict  is  yet  to  be  returned,  it  seems  clear  that  sharecropping  resulted  in  a  different  role 
for  the  black  woman  in  comparison  to  slavery  and  the  system  of  fixed  gang  wages.  Field 
work  became  more  and  more  the  domain  of  male  family  members,  with  females  doing  the 
cooking,  cleaning,  gardening,  ironing,  and  child  rearing.352 


350.  Ibid.,  151-197.  Exactly  how  many  of  the  old  planter  class  survived  the  war  as  members  of  a  plantation 
elite  is  a  question  of  some  dispute.  Clearly,  many  old  planters  were  still  around  as  property  owners  in  the 
Natchez  district  in  the  1880s  and  1890s,  but  whether  or  not  they  could  be  described  as  still  among  the 
preeminent  families  is  hard  to  know.  For  one  thing,  being  landlords  without  slaves  was  hardly  the  same 
status  as  a  landlord  in  antebellum  times.  A  number  of  planters  retained  their  old  estate  houses  while  selling 
off  the  land  all  around  them.  Some  coped  by  becoming  merchants.  The  evidence  seems  overwhelming, 
however,  that  the  continuity  among  the  antebellum  elites  in  the  post-war  era  is  a  concept  fraught  with 
ambiguity  and  misleading  implications.  Among  other  secondary  sources  that  discuss  this  issue  see  the 
following:  Lawrence  N.  Powell,  New  Masters:  Northern  Planters  During  the  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction 
(New  Haven,  Conn..  1980);  James  L.  Roark,  Masters  Without  Slaves:  Southern  Planters  in  the  Civil  War  and 
Reconstruction  (New  York,  N.Y..  1977). 

351.  Davis.  Good  and  Faithful  Labor,  pp.  153-197. 

352.  Wilmer  B.  Shields  to  William  Newton  Mercer,  March  27,  1867.  William  Newton  Mercer  Papers. 
Louisiana  State  University.  Baton  Rouge.  Louisiana;  for  appropriate  secondary  sources  see  especially  Sally 
G.  McMillen,  Southern  Women:  Black  and  White  in  the  Old  South  (Arlington  Heights.  111..  1992);  Deborah 
Gray  White,  Ar'n't  I  a  woman'  Female  Slaves  in  the  Plantation  South  (New  York.  N.Y..  1985);  Wharton.  The 
Negro  in  Mississippi,  p.  118. 

188 


Important,  also,  is  the  fact  that  more  freedmen  lived  as  members  of  nuclear  families  by 
1880  in  comparison  to  1860.  Table  17  provides  data  for  Concordia  Parish.  Nearly  62 
percent  lived  in  family  households  limited  to  immediate  family  members.  Another  23 
percent  lived  with  uncles,  aunts,  and  elderly  kinfolk.  Only  15  percent  lived  in  what  was 
not  a  family  unit.  Compared  to  similar  data  for  1860,  the  change  is  immediately  obvious. 


Table  17.   The  Black  Family  in  1860  and  1880 


Black  Familv  in  1860  and  1880 


I860 


1880 


Mother,  Father,  Children 

Mother,  Father,  Children  Plus  other  Adults 

One  Adult  and  Children 

Family  and  Elderly 

Black  Family  (Total) 

Male  and  Female 

Two  Adults  or  More 

One  Adult 

Elderly 

Other 

Total  Non  Familv 


36  % 

62  7c 

24 

12 

10 

8 

_3 

3 

73 

85 

3 

7 

18 

5 

1 

2 

1 

0 

4 

1 

27 

15 

Source:    U.S.  Census  (1860,  1880),  Manuscript  Population  and 
Slave  Schedules,  Concordia  Parish,  Louisiana. 


Most  fundamental  about  the  new  life  style  on  the  postbellum  plantation  were  the  little 
things.  Whitelaw  Reid,  a  young  Northern  journalist  of  radical  inclinations,  visited  Natchez 
district  plantations  in  1866.  In  one  instance,  he  recorded  the  following  conversation  in 
which  a  worker,  hired  to  drive  a  wagon  from  the  granary  to  the  stables  each  day, 
presented  his  case  for  more  wages:353 

"Mas'r,  Fse  got  my  own  'pinion  ob  you.  I  does  n't  tink  your'm  de  hardest 
mas'r  in  de  world;  an'  all  i  wants  is  to  hab  you  'sidah  my  case.  Fs  all  'lone; 
Fs  alius  been  a  good  niggah.  Rain  or  shine,  me  an'  my  hoss  am  at  your 
service.  We  hauls  de  feed  for  de  mules  to  de  lowah  place  every  day;  and  on 
Saturdays  we  hauls  for  Sunday  too,  kase  I's  'ligious,  an'  would  n't  work  on 
Sundays  no  how.  Now,  mass'r,  I  wants  you  to  please  'sidah  my  case.  Doesn't 
you  tink  dat  for  dat  extra  work  on  Saturday  you  ought  to  'low  me  anoder 
day's  wages?" 


353.     Whitelaw  Reid,  After  the  War:  A  Tour  of  the  Southern  States,  1865-1866  (New  York,  N.Y. 
edition,  originally  published  1866),  pp.  507. 


1965  Harper 


189 


The  driver  had  a  point,  but  it  was  lost  on  the  planter  who  had  hired  the  old  man  for  a  set 
task  at  fixed  wages.  It  was  just  such  differences  of  opinion  as  these  that  ended  up  in 
appeals  to  the  Freedman's  Bureau  in  the  years  1866  through  1869.  In  most  cases  the 
Bureau  sided  with  the  employer.  But  the  important  point  is  not  so  much  the  outcome  as 
it  was  the  dispute  itself  and  what  it  said  about  the  freedman's  willingness  to  assume  a 
role  unknown  in  slavery.  Clearly,  the  cautious  old  driver  in  the  example  above  knew 
enough  to  bow  and  scrape  as  a  tactic  of  negotiation,  but  his  logic  was  nearly  flawless: 
double  work  should  earn  double  pay. 

Significant,  too,  was  the  driver's  bold  assertion  that  he  "would  n't  work  on  Sundays  no 
how."  That,  of  course,  was  exactly  what  freedom  meant  for  the  formerly  enslaved.  The 
right  to  say  just  exactly  when  they  would  work  and  under  what  conditions.  That  the 
conditions  were  based  on  religious  convictions  indicates  early  on  just  how  crucial  was 
religious  freedom  in  the  ex-slave's  definition  of  freedom.  Reid  described  a  "negro  church" 
on  a  nearby  Louisiana  plantation  prior  to  the  move  from  gang  labor  and  fixed  wages  to 
sharecropping: 

When  Sunday  came  I  accompanied  the  overseer  down  to  the  negro  church. 
It  stood  at  the  end  of  the  street,  on  either  side  of  which  were  ranged  the 
quarters.  It  had  originally  been  a  double  cabin,  intended  for  a  couple  of 
slave  families,  like  the  rest  of  the  quarters;  but  the  middle  partition  had 
been  knocked  out;  and  space  enough  was  thus  secured  to  accommodate  a 
much  larger  congregation  than  that  which  we  found  gathered.  .  .  . 

Services  were  just  beginning  as  we  entered.  One  or  two  of  the  headmen 
bustled  about  to  get  chairs  for  us;  the  rest  continued  their  singing.  .  .  .  The 
woman  all  wore  comparatively  clean  calico  dresses;  and  the  heads  of  all 
were  wrapped  in  the  inevitable  checkered  and  gay-colored  handkerchiefs. 
Even  the  preacher's  head  was  bound  up  in  a  handkerchief,  none  too  clean, 
and  over  this  his  brass-rimmed  spectacles  were  made  secure  by  means  of  a 
white  cotton  string. 

The  old  fellow,  (who  was  none  other  than  the  plantation  gardner).  .  .  seemed 
pleased  at  the  chance  to  level  his  broadsides  at  two  white  men  [Reid  and  the 
overseerl,  and  he  certainly  showed  us  no  mercy.  White  men  might  tink  dey 
could  git  'long,  because  dey  was  rich;  but  dey'd  find  demselves  mistaken 
when  damnation  and  hell-fire  was  after  dem.  No,  my  breddering  an' 
sistering,  black  an'white,  we  must  all  be  'umble.  "Umbleness'll  tote  us  a 
great  many  places,  whar  money  won't  do  us  no  good.  54 

At  the  completion  of  the  old  man's  sermon,  the  congregation  launched  into  song,  chants, 
and  emotional  prayers  that  seemed  "almost  entirely  destitute  of  any  distinct,  intelligible 
meaning"  to  Reid.  Finally,  the  old  preacher  rose  again  to  announce  that  on: 

.  .  .  next  Sunday  dere  would  be  baptisin',  an'  all  dat  was  ready  for  de  water 
mus'  be  present.  On  de  Sunday  following'  dare  would  be  de  funeral.  Some 
forty  or  more  had  died  since  de  las'  o'ne,  and  he  mus'  hab  deir  names  now 


354.     Ibid.,  pp.  519-524. 

190 


afore  de  funeral  come  off.  Ef  de  water  was  n't  too  high,  he  would  hab  it 
outside  de  levee,  at  de  burying  groun'.  .  .  ,355 

Reid  thought  it  all  very  absurd,  but  noted  in  his  journal  that  this  "very  preacher  had  more 
than  once  been  dragged  from  the  pulpit  and  given  forty  lashes  for  presuming  to  repeat 
passages  of  the  Bible,  and  talk  about  them  to  the  slaves."356 

There  is  no  way  of  knowing  the  truth  of  Reid's  comment  about  the  whipping  of  slave 
preachers.  The  main  point  is  that  freedmen  preachers  —  unlike  their  slave  forbearers  — 
could  exhort  openly  in  black  churches  under  their  own  direction,  could  lecture  whites  with 
force  and  clear  meanings,  and  could  make  their  own  arrangements  regarding  burials  and 
baptisms.  And  these  were  no  small  matters.  Throughout  the  district,  freedmen  embraced 
religion  with  an  enthusiasm  that  equaled  their  commitment  to  family  farming  and  several 
other  issues  of  heartfelt  significance  in  their  system  of  values. 

Although  the  story  is  unclear,  religious  services  similar  to  those  described  by  Reid  gave 
way  by  1880  to  regularly  established  churches  located  at  crossroads  and  district  towns 
such  as  Natchez,  Washington,  Kingston,  Vidalia,  and  others.  Black  country  folk,  unlike  in 
slavery,  were  free  to  travel  about  at  will  to  their  places  of  worship  with  few  limitations 
placed  on  them.  Just  how  many  black  churches  in  rural  Adams  County  sprang  up  in  the 
postbellum  era  is  unknown.  It  is  unlikely  that  there  were  more  than  six  or  seven, 
suggesting  that  rural  blacks  probably  retained  some  form  of  plantation  church  service  for 
years  after  slavery.  Still,  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  Sundays  in  freedom  found  district 
roads  busy  with  black  churchgoers  on  their  way  to  worship.  Such  was  one  of  the  obvious 
benefits  of  freedom  in  the  early  days  of  Reconstruction.357 

Reid  also  wrote  of  an  interior  plantation  where  freedmen  had  "asked  the  proprietors  to 
reserve  out  of  their  wages  enough  to  hire  a  teacher  for  their  children."  All  the  hands  on 
the  place,  even  those  without  children,  supported  the  idea.35*  Students  of  southern 
history  have  amply  documented  the  extent  to  which  freedmen  defined  land,  religious 
freedom,  and  schools  as  the  essential  elements  of  their  freedom  in  the  Reconstruction  era. 
Natchez  district  blacks  were  no  different.  Indeed,  much  of  the  work  of  the  Freedmen's 
Bureau  was  devoted  to  staffing  freedmen  schools  with  teachers,  usually  whites  brought 
into  the  area  from  the  North.  The  number  and  extent  of  those  rural  schools  is  unknown 
at  this  time.359 


355.  Ibid. 

356.  Ibid. 

357.  See  also  Wharton,  The  Negro  In  Mississippi,  pp.  257-255. 

358.  Reid,  After  the  War,  p.  511. 

359.  John  D.  Anderson,  The  Education  of  Blacks  in  the  South,  1860-1935  (Chapel  Hill,  N.C.,  1988),  pp.  1-32; 
Fitzgerald,  The  Union  League  Movement  in  the  Deep  South,  pp.  112-135;  Edward  King,  The  Great  South 
(Baton  Rouge,  La.,  1972,  originally  published  in  1874),  pp.  291-295;  McMillen,  Dark  Journey,  pp.  107-173; 
Wharton,  The  Negro  In  Mississippi,  pp.  45-46,  243-255. 

191 


In  1871,  the  Republican  dominated  School  Board  of  Adams  County  —  which  included 
several  black  members  —  called  for  sealed  proposals  to  furnish  school  sites  throughout  the 
county.360  The  Natchez  Democrat,  in  reporting  the  story,  editorialized  about  the 
advantage  to  planters  of  building  schools  on  their  plantations  as  a  means  of  contracting 
with  freedmen  and  retaining  those  already  under  contract.'  1  Three  years  earlier  the 
same  paper  had  attacked  the  Freedmen's  Bureau's  call  for  a  crusade  by  Northern  teachers 
against  the  reputed  "immorality"  of  Natchez  blacks: 

Since  Mr.  Howard  [General  0.  0.  Howard]  foreshadows  that  we  are  to  be 
afflicted  with  another  plague  of  long  waisted,  big-footed,  dish-faced,  blear- 
eyed  schoolmarms  from  the  land  of  God  and  morality,  we  may  be  pardoned 
for  expressing  the  hope  that  they  will  this  time  be  selected  with  the  special 
regard  to  chastity  and  morals,  since  with  few  exceptions  those  heretofore 
sent  South  have  done  more  to  contribute  to  the  increase  of  hybreds  than  to 
the  elevation  of  the  simon-pure  negro."362 

A  few  planters  supported  plantation  schools,  as  long  as  the  schools  were  staffed  with  non- 
radical teachers,  as  a  means  of  holding  on  to  their  black  workers.  One  of  those  who 
understood  that  the  plantation  school  could  be  a  means  of  social  control  was  overseer 
Wilmer  Shields: 

Our  negroes  still  harp  on  having  the  whole  of  Saturday  and  the  teams  for 
town.  I  have  told  them  it  would  be  useless  to  say  anything  more  on  the 
subject  as  it  would  not  be  given. 

They  are  also,  some  of  them,  anxious  to  have  a  school  established  on  one  of 
the  places  for  their  children.  While  on  this  subject  I  may  mention  that  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Douglas  spoke  to  me  some  two  weeks  since,  to  know  if  it  would 
prove  agreeable  to  have  a  school  established  here  at  O  for  instance.  Mr.  D. 
is  he  chief  school  commissioner  for  this  state,  and  he  says  he  is  anxious  to 
imploy  proper  teachers,  and  keep  out  radical  meddlers.363 

In  a  follow-up  letter  to  Mercer,  on  December  12,  1866,  Shields  wrote  again  about  offering 
freedmen  schools  as  an  inducement  to  keep  them  working: 

As  regards  their  engagements  for  the  coming  year,  they  seem  undecided. 
Swartwout  is  very  blue  on  the  subject  and  seems  to  think  that  a  very  large 
majority  will  leave  us,  or  the  great  offers  of  Hutchins  &  Metcalfe,  even  those 
who  have  already  agreed  to  stay. 


360.  Natchez  Democrat,  February  22.  1871. 

361.  Ibid. 

362.  Natchez  Democrat.  October  19.  1868. 

363.  Shields  to  Mercer.  December  1,  1866,  Mercer  Papers,  LSU. 

192 


One  of  our  negroes  told  me  today  that  he  thought  that  the  whole  of 
Saturday  and  a  school  would  keep  nearly  all.  I  doubt  this.  I  think  well  of 
the  school,  if  we  can  get  a  proper  school  master  —  but  the  whole  of 
Saturday  ought  not  to  be  given.  Should  I  see  Mr.  Douglas,  I  will  do  as  you 
suggest  —  but  I  do  not  think  that  he  visits  your  city  often.364 

Most  district  planters  were  probably  not  so  enlightened,  or  as  calculating,  as  was  Shields 
and  Mercer,  and  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  assume  that  Natchez  planters  were  reconciled 
to  black  education  on  the  basis  of  the  Shields'  correspondence  alone.  Col.  Samuel  Thomas, 
the  assistant  commissioner  of  freedmen  in  Mississippi,  wrote  in  anger  to  his  superior,  Maj. 
Gen.  0.  0.  Howard,  commissioner  of  freedmen,  about  the  opposition  of  the  white  citizenry 
to  freedmen  schools  in  Natchez: 

The  white  citizens  of  this  city  [Vicksburgl  and  of  Natchez  have  requested  me 
not  to  establish  Freedmen's  schools  inside  the  city  limits;  yet  over  one  half 
the  citizens  of  these  towns  are  freedmen  -  men  who  are  doing  the  work  - 
men  who  are  toiling  all  day  in  the  sun  while  the  white  employer  is  laying 
back  in  the  shade  reaping  the  benefits  of  their  labor  through  their  superior 
knowledge,  and  constantly  talking  about  the  demoralization  of  negro  labor, 
that  the  negro  will  not  work,  etc.  I  thank  God  that  he  will  not  work  as  he 
does  in  days  that  are  gone.  .  .  .365 

In  1871,  Brig.  Gen.  John  Eaton,  commissioner  of  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Education, 
blanketed  the  South  with  thousands  of  questionnaires  on  the  subject  of  education  for  the 
freedmen.  He  found  that  the  majority  of  southern  planters  were  generally  opposed  to  the 
public  education  of  their  plantation  laborers.36 J  In  this  context,  the  support  expressed 
for  plantation  schools  by  some  Natchez  planters  like  Shields  was  probably  just  a  short- 
lived negotiating  tactic.  The  fourteen  black  public  schools  operating  in  Adams  County  in 
1870,  were  almost  certainly  the  result  of  black  political  power  in  the  county,  supported  by 
blacks  as  an  alternative  to  plantation  schools,  and  —  most  likely  —  opposed  by  district 
planters.367 

Family  farming,  religious  freedom,  schools,  the  right  to  come  and  go  as  they  wished,  and 
other  hard  won  freedoms  were  no  real  substitutes  for  the  fact  that  nearly  all  district 
blacks  were  hopelessly  impoverished  and  landless  by  1880.  Only  a  handful  of  black 


364.     Ibid.,  December  12,  1866. 


365.  Col.  Samuel  Thomas  to  Maj.  Gen.  0.0.  Howard,  Commissioner,  Records  of  the  Bureau  of  Refugees, 
Freedmen,  and  Abandoned  Lands,  Record  Group  105,  National  Archives.  Washington,  D.C. 

366.  See  Anderson,  The  Education  of  Blacks  in  the  South,  pp.  5-32. 

367.  See  Michael  Wayne,  The  Reshaping  of  Plantation  Society:  The  Natchez  District,  1860-1880  (Baton  rouge, 
La.,  1982),  pp.  1336-1337,  for  a  slightly  different  interpretation.  The  extent  of  white  opposition  to  education 
for  the  freedmen  was  driven  home  by  an  incident  that  happened  in  1868  in  the  town  of  Washington,  a  few 
miles  northeast  of  Natchez.  A  white  school  teacher  of  black  children  was  dragged  from  his  cabin  in  the  middle 
of  the  night  by  alleged  members  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan,  tarred  and  feathered,  and  nearly  killed.  The  school 
teacher's  offense,  according  to  his  testimony,  was  that  of  being  a  "d  d  Radical  son  of  a  ."  See  the  Natchez 
Democrat,  August  3,  1868. 

193 


farmers,  about  11  percent,  owned  their  own  farms  a  generation  after  slavery's  end. 
Clearly,  sharecropping  had  not  functioned  as  an  agricultural  ladder  with  steps  leading  to 
tenancy  and  farm  ownership.  Few  sharecroppers  ended  the  year  with  enough  cash  from 
their  crops  to  clear  their  debts  to  the  country  store.  Most  seemed  resigned  to  the  fact  by 
1880.  High  interest  rates,  low  cotton  prices,  the  added  expenses  of  chemical  fertilizers,  and 
a  judicial  and  legislative  system  that  generally  supported  creditors  over  debtors  placed 
freedmen  within  an  economic  box  from  which,  like  slavery,  there  was  no  easy  escape. 
Perhaps  that  is  why  religious  freedom,  schools,  and  family  farming  were  so  important  to 
the  impoverished  freedmen.  For  most  Natchez  blacks,  gains  such  as  these  were  all  they 
had  to  show  for  the  years  of  promise  after  slavery. 


BLACK  LANDOWNERSHIP 

As  indicated  above,  relatively  few  district  black  farmers  were  land  owning  farmers  by 
1880.  A  careful  reading  of  the  manuscript  census  for  Adams  county  turned  up  153  black 
landowners  with  enough  production  to  be  listed  in  the  agricultural  schedules.  The 
improved  acreage  owned  ranged  from  a  few  acres  to  155,  but  the  typical  black 
owner/operator  farmed  just  about  20  acres  of  land.  Nine  farmers  were  exceptional 
operators  with  an  average  of  121  acres  each.369 

Adams  County  deed  records  tell,  however,  a  slightly  different  story  regarding  black 
landowners.  There  is  a  striking  amount  of  evidence  in  the  records  to  suggest  that  a  unique 
class  of  black  landowners  emerged  in  the  twenty  years  after  the  Civil  War.  Several 
examples  stand  out.  In  1869,  an  antebellum  overseer  turned  planter  purchased  at  public 
auction  the  China  Grove  plantation  located  a  few  miles  south  of  Natchez.  The  individual 
in  question,  Wilmer  B.  Shields,  had  recently  inherited  several  plantations  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  from  his  long-time  employer,  planter  William  Mercer.  China  Grove's 
white  owners  had  lost  their  land  for  failure  to  meet  payments  due  on  a  bill  of  sale 
negotiated  prior  to  the  Civil  War.  This  was  not  an  uncommon  occurrence  in  postbellum 
Adams  County.  Dozens  of  plantations  changed  hands  after  the  war  in  default  on  loans  and 
due  to  unpaid  taxes.  In  the  case  of  China  Grove,  Shields  purchased  the  place  for  just 
under  $5000,  and  then  he  immediately  sold  it  to  August  and  Sarah  Mazique,  former  slaves 
of  James  Railey,  the  recently  deceased  owner  of  China  Grove.  In  time,  the  Mazique  family 
purchased  the  neighboring  Oakland  plantation,  also  once  owned  by  Railey,  and  at  least 


368.  Davis.  Good  and  Faithful  Labor,  pp.  168-200;  Jacquelin  Jones.  The  Dispossessed:  America's 
Underclasses  From  the  Civil  War  to  the  Present  (New  York,  N.Y.,  1992),  p.  1-166;  Jonathan  M.  Wiener.  Class 
Structure  and  Economic  Development  in  the  American  South.  1865-1955,''  American  Historical  Review  LXXXIV 
(1979),  pp.  970-1006;  Harold  D.  Woodman,  "Class  Structure  and  Economic  Development  in  the  American 
South,  1865-1955,''  American  Historical  Review  LXXXIV  (1979),  pp.  99-101;  "Post-Civil  War  Southern 
Agriculture  and  the  Law,"  Agricultural  History  LIII  (1979),  319-337;  "Sequel  to  Slavery:  The  New  History 
Views  the  Postbellum  South,"  The  Journal  of  Southern  History  XLIII  (1977).  pp.  524-554. 

369.  LT.S.  Census  (1880),  Manuscript  Population  and  Agricultural  Schedules,  Adams  County.  Mississippi. 

194 


one  other  plantation,  Bourbon,  within  the  next  fifteen  years.  These  properties  remained 
in  the  Mazique  family  well  into  the  twentieth-century.370 

Just  how  the  Maziques  managed  to  raise  the  funds,  why  Shields  operated  as  their  agent, 
and  what  explains  the  ability  of  the  Mazique  family  to  avoid  the  general  opposition  to 
selling  rural  lands  to  blacks  is  a  story  that  remains  to  be  told.  Part  of  the  answer  lies  with 
the  peculiar  history  of  China  Grove.  By  the  time  it  was  placed  on  the  market,  China  Grove 
had  deteriorated  so  badly  that  there  is  some  doubt  that  anyone  else  would  have  purchased 
the  place.  Charles  Railey,  the  heir  of  James  Railey,  was  a  drunken  and  imbecilic  murderer 
and  wife-beater  incapable  of  managing  the  place  let  alone  his  personal  affairs.  It  is  not 
unlikely  that  the  Maziques  were  the  only  buyers  willing  to  take  over  the  run-down 
plantation.3'1 

As  importantly,  the  sale  took  place  in  1869,  at  the  precise  moment  when  many  local  blacks 
were  beginning  to  play  a  dynamic  and  decisive  political  role  in  the  district.  Adams  County, 
with  the  appointment  of  radical  Adelbert  Ames  as  military  governor  of  Mississippi,  was 
becoming  a  hot-bed  of  political  activism  in  the  early  1870s,  electing  blacks  as  mayor, 
aldermen,  sheriffs,  and  representatives  to  the  state  assembly.  One  Natchez  African- 
American,  Hiram  Revels,  was  appointed  to  the  U.  S.  Senate.  Another  local  political  leader, 
John  R.  Lynch,  served  as  Speaker  of  the  State  Assembly.  More  will  be  said  later  about  the 
political  activism  of  Natchez  blacks,  but  clearly  the  influence  of  a  handful  of  black  politicos 
undoubtedly  helped  create  an  environment  in  which  a  few  non-political  blacks  (like  the 
Maziques)  could  become  property  owners.  '2 


370.  See  the  numerous  Mazique  property  transactions  recorded  in  land  and  Deed  records  housed  in  the 
Adams  County  Office  of  Records  in  Natchez,  Mississippi.  Historical  preservationist,  Mimi  Miller,  of  the 
Historic  Natchez  Foundation  has  compiled  substantial  documentation  on  China  Grove,  including  references 
to  the  Mazique  family  for  a  span  of  years  dating  from  1865  through  the  1940s.  To  add  irony  to  irony,  the 
person  Charles  R.  Railey  was  acquitted  of  murdering  was  one  of  the  Railey  slaves,  perhaps  someone  known 
by  the  Mazique  family.    James  Railey's  will  makes  the  following  reference  to  Charles  in  1860: 

It  is  humiliating  to  me  to  say  what  course  I  wish  taken  in  regard  to  my  son  Charlie 
Randolph  Railey.    I  desire  my  friend  James  G.  Carson  [lawyer  in  partnership  with  John 
McMurran],  to  pay  to  Charles  the  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars  per  annum  in  quarterly 
payments  &  give  as  justification  on  my  part  for  so  doing,  and  to  give  to  the  courts  a  full 
evidence  of  the  necessity  of  this  course  the  following  statement:  Charlie  was  tried  for  murder, 
and  confessed  the  act  and  nothing  but  the  proof  as  was  given  by  his  school  teacher  and  Dr. 
Metcalfe,  my  family  physician,  that  Charlie  had  not  mind  enough  to  be  responsible  for  his 
acts  saved  him  from  the  penalties  of  the  law.  Under  this  state  of  things  I  feel  it  my  duty  not 
to  place  property  or  funds  (only  for  his  support)  in  his  possession. 
See  China  Grove/Mazique  File  Historic  Natchez  Foundation,  Natchez,  Mississippi.  See  also  the  Will  of  William 
Mercer,  April  11,  1866,  August  27,  1874.  Adams  County  Will  book  2,  Office  of  Records,  Natchez,  Mississippi 
and  the  Will  of  James  Railey.  February  1,  1860,  Adams  County  Will  Book  3,  Office  of  Records,  Natchez, 
Mississippi  and  the  Mississippi  Free-Trader,  May  17,  1858. 

371.  Ibid. 

372.  See  Fitzgerald,  The  Union  League  Movement,  pp.  37-112,  170-171;  Eric  Foner,  "Black  Reconstruction 
Leaders  at  the  Grass  Roots."  in  Leon  Litwack  and  August  Meier,  (ed.).  Black  Leaders  of  the  Nineteenth  Century 
(Urbana,  111.,  1988),  219-236;  Libby,  "Senator  Hiram  Revels  of  Mississippi  Takes  His  Seat,  January-February, 
1870,"  The  Journal  of  MississippiHistory  XXXVII  (November.  1975),  pp.  381-394;  Lynch.  The  Autobiography 
of  John  Roy  Lynch,  pp.  ix-xxxix,  45-162; 

195 


Allison  Davis,  a  twentieth-century  sociologist  who  studied  Natchez's  caste  and  class 
structure  in  the  1930s,  found  that  half  the  black  landowners  in  Adams  County  had 
acquired  their  properties  between  1865  and  1885,  speculating  that  much  of  the  land  had 
been  given  to  the  blacks  as  gifts  from  their  white  parents.  Perhaps  that  is  the  link 
between  the  Maziques  and  Shields,  between  Railey  and  the  Maziques.  Or,  more  simply, 
it  may  have  been  that  Shields  bought  and  sold  properties  adjoining  his  own  to  blacks 
whom  he  had  grown  to  trust  on  the  basis  of  having  known  them  as  loyal  house  slaves  over 
the  years.373 

The  property  holdings  in  Adams  County  of  the  Lynch  brothers  —  William  and  John  —  are 
somewhat  less  complicated  at  first  glance.  Born  slaves  in  the  Natchez  district,  the  two 
brothers  rose  to  substantial  prominence  in  the  state  during  the  Reconstruction  era.  John 
R.  Lynch  quickly  emerged  as  one  of  the  state's  most  powerful  black  politicians  due  to  his 
organizational  activities  in  the  Natchez  Union  League,  beginning  in  1867.  His  abilities 
propelled  him  from  one  political  office  to  another  following  his  initial  appointment  as 
Justice  of  the  Peace  in  Adams  County  in  1869.  Serving  repeatedly  in  the  U.  S.  House  of 
Representatives  in  the  1870s  and  1880s,  he  was  the  principal  figure  in  the  black 
Republican  caucus  in  the  state  for  most  of  the  years  from  1870  to  1890.  John's  brother, 
William,  also  born  into  slavery,  handled  most  of  the  family's  land  dealings  in  Adams 
County.374 

What  is  remarkable  about  the  brothers  Lynch  in  regard  to  landownership  is  the  extent  of 
their  involvement.  In  the  Adams  County  land  books,  the  Lynch  brothers  account  for  more 
than  100  entries,  beginning  with  a  security  deed  in  1867,  by  which  John  Lynch  loaned  his 
white  employer  funds  secured  by  the  contents  of  the  photography  shop  wherein  the  two 
worked.  The  records  show  the  Lynch  brothers  buying  and  selling  town  lots  (principally  on 
or  near  St.  Catherine  street,  old  Pine  Ridge  Road,  and  the  Forks-of-the-Road  slave  market 
area  of  antebellum  notoriety)  as  well  as  substantial  amounts  of  rural  real  estate.  Between 
1870  and  1897,  the  Lynch  brothers  acquired  title  to  part  or  all  of  at  least  five  antebellum 
estate  farms  and  plantations:  Providence,  Homochitto,  Hedges,  Grove,  Saragossa,  and 
Ingleside.  Most  of  these  plantations  were  located  south  of  Natchez  in  the  direction  of  the 
Mazique  property  in  the  so-called  Second  Creek  neighborhood.3'  (See 
ILLUSTRATION  L) 

A  review  of  the  Lynch  records  shows  an  astonishing  pace  of  land  investment  that  defies 
easy  explanation.  Firstly,  why  did  most  of  the  family's  rural  property  transactions  take 
place  south  of  town  near  the  Mazique  holdings?  Lynch's  town  dealings  were  located  in  the 
St.  Catherine  neighborhood  almost  exclusively.  Is  it  probable  that  urban  and  rural  forms 
of  segregation  account  for  the  locales?  At  first  glance,  it  seems  that  most  of  the  black 


373.  Allison  Davis.  Burleigh  B.  Gardner,  and  Mary  R.  Gardner.  Deep  South:  A  Social  Anthropological  Study 
of  Caste  and  Class  (Chicago,  111.,  1941K  pp.  299-407;  McMillen.  Dark  Journey,  pp.  118-121. 

374.  See  Fitzgerald,  The  Union  League  Movement,  p.  240;  Garner,  Reconstruction  in  Mississippi,  pp.  295-296: 
Lych,  The  Autobiography  of  John  Roy  Lynch:  McMillen.  Dark  Journey,  pp.  4-63,  1 16. 167. 173.291-300:  Wharton. 
The  Negro  in  Mississippi,  pp.  114,  155,  159,  162-163,  169.  173.  197,  200-209,  211,  231; 

375.  Lynch's  initial  transaction  is  recorded  on  January  5,  1867.  Adams  County  Deed  Book  OO,  Office  of 
Records,  Natchez,  Mississippi.  His  property  dealings  thereafter  are  continued  throughout  twenty  succeeding 
volumes  of  records. 

196 


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197 


landowners  were  located  in  proximity  to  one  another  just  south  of  Natchez.  Former  slaves, 
Charles  and  Charity  Rounds,  for  example  purchased  the  historic  Glen  Aubin  plantation 
adjoining  China  Grove  in  the  1870s  —  in  a  sale  also  arranged  by  Wilmer  Shields.  When 
the  Mazique,  Rounds,  and  Lynch  properties  are  taken  together,  it  is  clear  that  a 
significant  chunk  of  the  so-called  Second  Creek  area  south  of  Natchez  had  become  largely 
black  property  by  the  1880s.376 

There  is  much  more  to  the  story  of  black  landholding,  however,  than  what  occurred  south 
of  Natchez.  The  descendants  of  William  Johnson,  for  example,  acquired  Peachland 
plantation  north  of  town  and  leased  several  other  places  in  Adams  County  (Carthage)  and 
across  the  river  in  Concordia  Parish  (St.  Genevieve  and  Black  Lake).  "  Louis  Winston, 
prominent  black  lawyer  and  long-time  Circuit  Clerk  of  the  county  court,  owned  extensive 
property  in  Natchez,  as  well  as  a  1027  acre  plantation  (Mount  Welcome)  east  of 
Natchez.  Winston's  easterly  plantation  lay  in  an  enclave  of  property  owned  by  several 
old-line  black  families.  The  prominent  Hiram  Revels,  U.  S.  Senator  from  Mississippi  and 
president  of  Alcorn  college,  had  purchased  a  portion  of  the  property  in  1871,  along  with 
a  piece  of  the  adjoining  Sandy  Creek  plantation.3 '9  Revels'  Sandy  Creek  property  was 
a  parcel  of  a  larger  tract  of  land  (sometimes  known  as  the  Green  Grove  plantation)  owned 
by  the  free  black  Hoggatt  family,  who  had  inherited  the  property  from  the  clan's  white 
patriarch.380 

What  did  the  Lynch,  Hoggatt,  Johnston,  Rounds,  Mazique,  and  Revels  families  do  with 
their  lands?  On  the  basis  of  the  agricultural  census,  only  a  few  of  them  were  farmers  in 
1880.  The  Johnston  and  Lynch  families  leased  farm  plots  to  black  farmers  on 
sharecropping  contracts  that  were  essentially  indistinguishable  from  those  struck  between 
white  landlords  and  black  farmers.  The  Hoggatts,  Maziques,  and  Rounds  lived  on  the 


376.  See  the  numerous  property  recordings  for  the  Rounds  in  the  Adams  County  Land  and  Deed  Books.  Office 
of  Records,  Natchez,  Mississippi  as  well  as  the  Glen  Aubin  File,  Natchez  Historic  Foundation,  Natchez, 
Mississippi.  The  Glen  Aubin  plantation  was  part  of  the  original  plantation  owned  by  the  district's  largest 
landholder  in  the  eighteenth  century,  Anthony  Hutchins. 

377.  Deed,  March  1,  1874,  Martha  J.  McCaleb  to  Anna  L.  Johnston  et  al.  Adams  County  Deed  book  TT; 
Mortgage,  May  5,  1875,  Am. a  L.  Johnston  and  others  to  William  Lynch,  Office  of  Records.  Nathcez. 
Mississippi;  Lease.  March  14,  1868,  St.  Genevieve  Plantation,  Ayers  P.  Merrill  Jr.  to  Byron  Johnson; 
Agreement  with  Freedmen,  February  12,  1869,  Carthage  Plantation;  Lease.  February  15.  1869,  Carthage 
Plantation,  John  Minor  and  K.L.  Minor  to  Byron  Johnson;  Lease.  February  3.  1870.  Black  Lake  Plantation, 
Byron  Johnson,  Johnson  Family  Papers,  LSU,  Baton  Rouge,  Louisiana. 

378.  The  Land  and  Deed  Books  record  over  sixty  entries,  mainly  town  lots,  for  Winston.  See  especially 
Mortgage,  April  13,  1888,  L.J.  Winston  with  The  Mississippi  Land.  Loan  and  Investment  Company.  Adams 
County  Deed  Book  3-C,  Office  of  Records.  Natchez.  Mississippi. 

379.  See  Deed,  April  4,  1871,  Fleming  and  Baldwin  to  Hiram  R.  Revels.  Adams  County  Deed  Book  QQ.  Office 
of  Records,  Natchez,  Mississippi. 

380.  Deed.  February  16.  1889.  Anthony  Hoggatt  to  Walter  McCrea,  Adams  County  Deed  book  3-D.  Office  of 
Records.  Natchez  Mississippi;  See  Manumission  Document,  July  6.  1855.  Nathaniel  Hoggatt.  Jr.,  to  Fleming 
W.  Harris  et  al.  Adams  County  Deed  Book  LL.  Office  of  Records.  Natchez,  Mississippi.  (These  are  sample 
documents  from  among  the  hundreds  consulted) 

198 


plantations  as  mainly  subsistence  farmers,  possibly  working  in  Natchez  or  as 
sharecroppers  on  other  farms  in  the  County.381 

Did  the  black  landowners  reside  on  the  plantations  they  had  purchased?  The  answer  is 
rather  mixed.  Anna  L.  Johnston  (the  family  name  changed  from  Johnson  to  Johnston  in 
the  1870s)  lived  on  Peachland  for  most  of  her  life.  The  Maziques,  Hoggatts,  and  Rounds 
seem  to  have  also  occupied  their  respective  places.  Revels  probably  lived  on  Mount 
Welcome  for  a  time;  but  there  is  no  clear  evidence  that  either  of  the  Lynch  brothers,  or 
any  of  the  Winstons,  lived  on  the  rural  properties  they  had  acquired.  A  telling  note  written 
by  Mary  Conner,  the  daughter  of  antebellum  planter/lawyer  John  McMurran,  to  a  friend 
in  1875,  is  suggestive  of  a  pattern  wherein  old  time  planters  sold  off  plantation  acreage 
while  holding  on  to  their  plantation  houses  for  as  long  as  possible: 

Miss  M.  J.  Veazie  is  to  give  a  concert  for  her  own  benefit,  or  rather  for  her 
poor,  sick  mother.  They  are  in  utter  poverty,  needing  the  necessaries  of  life. 
Their  place  (Providence)  was  sold  at  Sheriffs  sale  last  Friday,  leaving  them 
with  only  their  cottage  and  a  few  acres  around.  The  place  was  bought  by 
one  Lynch  (a  mulatto),  our  represenative  from  the  County  in  the  Legislature. 
Miss  Veazie  hopes  to  make  something  by  the  use  of  her  musical  talent.  I 
feel  very  sorry  for  her,  and  her  mother.  How  many  thousands  are  in  the 
same  condition  in  our  unhappy  country.382 

Did  black  landowners  like  the  Lynch  and  Mazique  families  prosper  as  landowners?  Again 
the  answer  is  unclear.  Students  of  southern  history  have  noted  how  frequently  black 
landowners  were  duped  in  the  purchase  of  lands,  paying  prices  far  out  of  proportion  to  the 
earnings  likely  to  be  gained  from  the  land.38'  Whether  or  not  this  was  the  case  in 
Adams  County  is  difficult  to  know.  What  seems  clear,  is  that  landownership  did  not  result 
in  substantial  wealth  for  the  Maziques,  Rounds,  Hoggatts,  and  Johnston  families.  Many 
of  the  transactions  in  the  T  ind  and  Deed  Books  are  for  mortgages  and  indentures 
amounting  to  a  few  hundred  dollars,  funds  too  small  to  be  anything  but  subsistence 
money.  Evidence  in  the  manuscript  census  schedules  suggests  that  while  lands  farmed  by 
black  owners  were  reasonably  productive,  usually  resulting  in  one  bale  of  cotton  per  acre 
cultivated,  the  improved  acres  were  too  few  to  ensure  even  a  shabby  prosperity  let  alone 
any  real  security  or  independence.  Numerous  black  landowning  farmers,  moreover,  farmed 
marginal  lands  yielding  but  one-half  to  one-third  bale  per  acre  in  cotton;  and  none  of  the 
Adams  County  landowning  blacks  of  some  size  owned  plantations  across  the  river  in 
Louisiana,  although  the  Johnstons  had  occasionally  leased  Concordia  plantations.384 

In  any  case,  the  question  of  prosperity  is  a  relative  one.  Very  few  black  farm  owners 
duplicated  the  Mazique  family  experience  of  acquiring  additional  property  over  the  years 


381.  Ibid. 

382.  Mary  to  Marna,  Woodlands,  1875.  John  T.  McMurran  Family  papers,  LSU,  Baton  Rouge.  Louisiana. 

383.  See  McMillen,  Dark  Journey,  pp.  111-153. 

384.  Adams  County  Land  and  Deed  Books,  Office  of  Records,  Natchez,  Mississippi;  U.S.  Census  (1870.  1880). 
Manuscript  Agricultural  and  Population  Schedules,  Adams  County,  Mississippi. 

199 


or  enjoyed  the  long-term  security  that  must  have  characterized  the  Hoggatts,  Lynch,  and 
Winston  family  situations.  Most  black  landowning  farmers  in  the  county  were  small 
operators  who  eked  out  a  debt-ridden  existence  not  much  different  from  that  of  their 
sharecropping  neighbors.  Indeed,  most  of  them  owned  their  farms  on  lands  surrounded  by 
sharecroppers  —  small  islands  of  independence  amid  a  sea  of  tenancy.  Unless  one  could 
have  seen  the  mortgage  records,  most  contemporary  observers  would  have  been  hard 
pressed  to  differentiate  between  black  landowners  and  black  sharecroppers  on  the  basis 
of  how  they  lived. 


THE  SOCIAL  AND  POLITICAL  MILIEU 

Among  the  thousands  of  African-Americans  in  the  Natchez  district  were  those  who  looked 
to  the  town  of  Natchez  as  the  most  tangible  evidence  that  slavery  was  truly  dead.  By  1870, 
some  5328  blacks  lived  in  Natchez,  more  than  double  the  black  population  of  1860.  Women 
outnumbered  men  among  the  seventy  occupations  listed  in  the  manuscript  census 
schedules,  and  laborers  and  house  servants  dominated  overall.  Included  among  the 
occupations  were  nineteen  teachers,  six  ministers,  five  policemen,  and  one  municipal 
official.385 


385.     U.S.  Census  (1870,  1880).  Manuscript  Population  Schedules.  Adams  County.  Mississippi. 

200 


Adult  Males 

1,616 

Adult  Females 

1,995 

Children 

1,712 

Table  18.  African-Americans  in  Natchez  in  1870 

30% 
37% 
32% 

Total  5,323  99%   (Not  equal  100r;  due  to  rounding  off") 

Total  Households  1.969 

Number  of  Black  Households  Including  White  Residents  126 


Occupations  Male  Female 

% 


Laborer 

22 

14 

Keeping  House 

1 

12 

Laundress 

0 

8 

Farmer 

5 

1 

Domestics 

1 

8 

Estate  Hands 

3 

0 

Skilled  Workers 

4 

0 

Other 

8 

13 

(Cooks,  Servants,  Housekeepers,  etc.) 
(Gardeners,  Grooms,  Coachman,  etc.) 
(Carpenters,  Blacksmiths,  Shoemakers,  etc. 


Total  44  56 


Occupations  Listed  in  the  Census  of  1870 

Laborer.  Laundress,  Farmer,  Cook,  Seamstress,  Servant, 
Gardener,  Carpenter,  Blacksmith,  Nurse,  Groom.  Shoemaker, 
Teacher,  Wood  Yard  Keeper.  Porter,  Brick  Mason,  Restaurant 
Keeper,  Waggoner,  Coachman,  Policeman,  Housekeeper, 
Steward,  Painter,  Plasterer,  Printer,  Janitor,  Whitewashes 
Midwife,  Clerk,  Varnisher,  Carriagedriver,  Shinglemaker, 
Waiter,  Harnessmaker,  Hackman,  Chambermaid,  Washer, 
Planter,  Milkmaid,  Watercarrier,  Contractor.  Butcher, 
Saloonkeeper,  Valet,  Merchant,  Gravedigger,  Tanner,  Minister, 
Baker,  Huckster,  Grocer,  Barber,  Teamster,  Stocktender,  Lady's 
Maid,  Mechanics,  Wheelwright,  Teamster,  Woodcutter,  Boarding 
House  Owner,  Gunmaker,  Mailcarrier,  Horsetrader, 
Mattressmaker.  Merchant,  Coffee  Seller,  Dressmaker,  and 
Boatman. 


Source:  U.S.   Census  (1870),  Manuscript  Population   Schedule,  Adams  County, 
Mississippi. 

*This  table  is  based  on  an  interval  sampling  of  10  percent  of  the  black  households, 
excluding  those  in  which  whites  resided. 


201 


Except  for  the  teachers  and  ministers,  the  occupational  array  is  about  what  would  be 
expected  of  Natchez  blacks  just  out  of  slavery.  Freedmen  worked  as  draymen  and  hack 
men  and  barbers  and  valets  much  as  free  blacks  and  slaves  had  worked  similar  jobs  before 
the  war.  Few  skilled  African-Americans  worked  in  Natchez  in  1860  or  in  1870.  Most  blacks 
in  the  town  were  unskilled  laborers  both  before  and  after  the  Civil  War.386 

Regardless  of  their  occupations,  Natchez  blacks  lived  and  recreated  as  free  men  and 
women  in  the  1870s  in  ways  unlike  anything  they  had  been  able  to  do  in  antebellum 
times.  In  the  first  days  after  the  Civil  War,  white  residents  responded  to  the  new  milieu 
of  black  Natchez  by  attempting  to  enforce  a  limited  type  of  segregation  in  the  town.  City 
officials  posted  instructions  dividing  the  bluff  promenade  above  the  river  into  three 
quarters:  the  central  part  for  white  bachelors  and  blacks,  the  northern  part  for  white 
women  and  children,  and  the  southern  section  for  all  whites.38'  It  is  unlikely,  however, 
that  such  strictures  were  ever  enforced:  firstly,  the  town  was  simply  overrun  with  so-called 
vagabond  blacks  and  visiting  freedmen  who  converged  on  Natchez  with  great  enthusiasm; 
secondly,  the  town  became  a  caldron  of  political  activity  beginning  around  1867  as  white 
and  black  carpetbaggers  arrived  in  Natchez  intent  on  establishing  radical  Republican  clubs 
in  support  of  black  suffrage.388 

Briefly  told,  full-blown  black  political  machines  emerged  on  the  scene  in  the  late  1860s 
aimed  at  organizing  black  voters  in  support  of  black  and  white  Republican  candidates  for 
municipal,  state,  and  national  office.  Although  the  exact  details  of  the  story  are  unknown, 
the  town  witnessed  a  fury  of  political  activity  involving  three  interlinking  components: 
Black  churches,  radical  Union  Leagues,  and  the  local  free  born  black  community.  Almost 
immediately  after  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  black  ministers,  several  of  whom  had  served 
in  black  regiments  during  the  Civil  War,  arrived  in  Natchez  determined  to  found  Baptist., 
AME,  and  Methodist  associations  and  churches.  They  joined  with  prominent  local  blacks, 
like  Nelson  Fitzhugh,  William  McCary,  and  John  R.  Lynch,  to  press  for  black 
representation  in  municipal  and  state  elections.  Republican  Union  Leagues  held  public 
meetings  in  Natchez  exhorting  issues  and  fielding  candidates  in  local  and  state  political 
campaigns.  So  successful  were  their  efforts  that  blacks  won  office  as  town  aldermen, 
mayor,  sheriff,  school  board  trustees,  and  other  political  positions  in  the  1870s.  It  is  no 
exaggeration  to  say  that  black  politicians  and  office  holders  controlled  nearly  all  aspects 
of  town  and  county  government  positions,  from  mayor  to  teachers,  in  the  1870s.  Several 
Natchez  blacks,  moreover,  served  in  the  state  legislature  and  in  the  U.  S.  Congress.  A 
small  handful  —  men  like  Hiram  Revels,  John  R.  Lynch,  and  Louis  J.  Winston  —  were 
regularly  appointed  and  elected  to  state  and  public  office  in  demonstrations  of  patronage 


386.  What  the  census  designation  "laborer'  actually  meant  is  unclear.  Nor  is  it  clear  what  the  words 
"Keeping  house"  meant  to  the  black  women  so  identified  in  the  census.  Did  the  words  carry  the  same 
connotation  as  house  wife,"  meaning  someone  unemployed  outside  the  home?  Or  was  "Keeping  house"  another 
way  of  identifying  domestic  workers  employed  as  maids  and  cleaning  women? 

387.  Natchez  Conner,  May  29,  1866. 

388.  Natchez  Courier,  October  11,1867;  Natchez  Weekly  Democrat,  January  22,  1866:  May  18.  1868; 
Fitzgerald.  The  Union  League  Movement  in  the  Deep  South,  pp.  14.  87;  Garner.  Reconstruction  in  Mississippi, 
2556;  harris.  Presidential  Reconstruction  in  Mississippi,  p.  30. 

202 


for  their  loyalty  to  the  Republican  Party  and  their  influence  among  blacks  throughout  the 


state:1™  (See  Table  19) 


Table  19.   Natchez  Black  Political  Leaders,  1865-1890 


Bowles,  George  F. 


Davis,  Willis. 
Fitzhugh,  Charles. 


Free  black  lawyer  who  moved  to  Natchez  from  Tennessee  in  1871. 
Elected  city  attorney  and  city  weigher.  Appointed  colonel  in  militia  in 
1878.  City  marshal  and  chief  of  police  in  1879.  State  house  of 
representatives  in  1888.  Delegate  to  1888  Republican  Convention. 
Grand  Chancellor  of  Black  Knights  of  Pythias  in  Mississippi.  Publisher 
and  editor  of  Natchez  black  monthly,  Brotherhood,  1887  to  1900. 

Elected  to  Miss.  State  Legislature  from  Adams  Co.,  1874-75. 

Free  born  son  of  leading  Natchez  free  black  family.  Member  of 
Mississippi  Constitutional  Convention  and  Miss.  Legislature,  1874- 
1875. 


Fitzhugh,  Robert  W. 


Foley,  Hugh  M. 


Free  born  son  of  leading  Natchez  black  family.  Brother  of  Charles 
Fitzhugh.  Served  on  first  black  membered  city  assembly  in  1871. 
Member  of  Adams  County  Board  of  Education  in  1871.  Justice  of  the 
Peace  in  Natchez,  1874  and  1875.  Managed,  along  with  Robert  Wood, 
the  successful  congressional  campaign  of  John  R.  Lynch  in  1870. 

Free  born  black  mechanic  and  storekeeper  educated  by  white  teachers 
in  Natchez.  Ordained  AME  minister  in  1869.  Served  in  Miss.  House 
from  1870-73.  Publisher  of  Port  Gibson  Vindicator. 


Gayles,  George  W. 


Born  a  slave  in  Wilkinson  County.  Served  in  Union  Army  and 
appointed  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  by  Governor  James  Alcorn  in  1870. 
Ordained  Baptist  minister  in  1867.  Served  in  state  senate  and 
legislature  in  1870s.  Editor  of  the  Baptist  Signal  published  in  Natchez 
from  1881  to  1893. 


Hoggatt,  Anthony. 


Adams  County  Board  of  Supervisors,  1874,  1875.  Member  of  Natchez 
Board  of  Education,  1878. 


Hunt,  Henry. 
Jacobs,  Henry  P. 


Adams  County  Board  of  Supervisors,  1878. 

Born  a  slave  in  Alabama,  Jacobs  escaped  with  his  wife,  three  children, 
and  brother-in-law  to  Canada.  Ordained  Baptist  minister  in  1858. 
Came  to  Natchez  during  the  Civil  War  to  organize  Baptist  associations. 
Active  as  Union  League  Organizer.  Tried  to  purchase  plantations  on 
behalf  of  a  group  of  freedmen  using  veterans'  bounties  for  funds.  Rival 
of  John  R.  Lynch  in  Adams  County  politics.  Served  in  Mississippi 


389.  Natchez  Courier,  September  21,  1867;  October  26,  1867;  November  16,  1867;  Natchez  Weekly  Democrat, 
June  10,  1867;  July  6,  1868:  December  16,  1869;  November  23,  1879;  December  7,  1870;  Fitzgerald.  The  Union 
League  Movement  in  the  Deep  South,  p.  31,  58-59;  McMillen,  Dark  Journey,  pp.  35-71:  Sewell  and  Dwight. 
Mississippi  Black  History  Makers,  pp.  26-48;  Wharton,  The  Negro  in  Mississippi,  pp.  144-145.  148,  152. 


203 


Lewis,  W.  B. 
Lynch,  James  D. 


Legislature  in  1870-73,  and  1876-77.  One  of  the  original  founders  of 
the  Natchez,  Jackson,  &  Columbus  Rail  Road. 

Adams  County  Board  of  Supervisors.  1876. 

Free  black  born  in  1839  in  Baltimore.  Educated  at  Kimball  Union 
Academy  in  New  Hampshire.  Moved  to  Jamaica,  Long  Island,  where 
he  taught  school  and  joined  Presbyterian  church  in  1858.  Joined  AME 
church  in  1860  and  moved  to  Indiana  and  then  to  Baltimore  as  a 
minister.  Sent  as  a  missionary  to  South  Carolina  in  1863.  Noted 
preacher  to  black  troops  in  Georgia  and  South  Carolina.  Eventually 
joined  Methodist  church  and  moved  to  Mississippi  where  he  worked 
with  Freedmen's  Bureau  while  living  in  Natchez.  Later  moved  to 
Jackson,  Mississippi.  Candidate  for  Secretary  of  State  on  the  Alcorn 
ticket  in  1870.  Died  in  1872. 


Lynch,  John  Roy. 


Lynch,  William  H. 


McCary,  William. 


Revels,  Hiram. 


Born  a  slave  in  Concordia  Parish,  Louisiana,  in  1847.  Worked  as  a  cook 
for  U.  S  Army  and  as  a  waiter  on  a  naval  vessel  during  the  Civil  War. 
Became  a  photographer's  assistant  in  Natchez  and  attended  a 
freedmen's  school  in  1866  and  1867.  Active  in  Natchez  Republican 
politics  and  appointed  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  1869.  Served  in 
Mississippi  legislature  in  1870-73,  elected  speaker  in  1872.  Served  in 
U.  S.  Congress  in  1873,  1876,  and  1880.  Delegate  to  Republican 
National  Convention  in  1872.  Temporary  Chairman  of  Republican 
National  Convention  in  1884.  Admitted  to  Mississippi  bar  in  1894. 
Appointed  auditor  of  U.  S.  Treasury  in  1892,  Major  in  U.  S.  Volunteers 
during  Spanish-American  War,  and  paymaster  of  the  army.  Moved  to 
Chicago  in  1912,  where  he  published  two  books  and  numerous  articles 
on  Reconstruction.  Died  in  1939. 

Brother  of  John  R.  Lynch.  Born  a  slave  in  Concordia  Parish,  Louisiana. 
Worked  during  the  war  as  attendant  for  U.  S.  Army  commandant  of 
Natchez.  Member  of  the  Mississippi  House  in  1874-1875,  and  again  in 
1881  and  1885.  Natchez  city  alderman  in  1871.  1872.  and  1873. 
Member  of  Adams  County  School  Board  in  1871.  Business  manager  of 
brother's  property  in  1870s  and  1890s.  Partner  in  Natchez,  Jackson,  & 
Columbus  Rail  Road  in  1870. 

Son  of  prosperous  free  black  barber  in  Natchez.  Robert  McCary7.  Served 
in  various  municipal  and  county  capacities  in  1860s  and  1870s:  Adams 
County  Sheriff,  tax  collector,  city  alderman,  county  treasurer,  and 
Natchez  postmaster.  Joined  with  Citizens  Reform  Club  in  late  1870s 
in  opposition  to  established  black  Republicans. 

Born  free  in  North  Carolina  in  1822  or  1827.  Attended  a  Quaker 
Seminary  in  Indiana  and  Knox  College  in  Illinois.  Ordained  AME 
minister  in  1845,  preached  thereafter  in  Indiana.  Illinois,  Ohio, 
Missouri,  and  Maryland.  Imprisoned  in  Missouri  in  1854  for  preaching 
to  blacks.  Left  AME  church  for  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  North. 
Reunited  with  AME  in  1856  and  thereafter  served  as  a  minister  and 
principal  of  a  black  high  school  in  Baltimore  from  1857  to  1863.  Also 
taught  school  briefly  in  St.  Louis.  Organized  black  regiments  in 
Maryland  and  Missouri  in  Civil  War.  Worked  for  Freedmen's  Bureau 


204 


in  Vicksburg,  Mississippi  —  raising  money  for  schools.  Settled  in 
Natchez  after  the  war  where  he  became  a  city  alderman  in  1868  and 
served  in  the  Mississippi  State  Legislature.  Joined  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  1868.  Appointed  to  J.  S.  Senate  from  Mississippi 
in  1870  for  a  brief  term  —  first  black  in  U.  S.  Congress.  Appointed 
president  of  Alcorn  Agriculture  College  in  1873  —  became  Alcorn 
University,  a  state  college  for  blacks.  Dismissed  from  the  Presidency 
of  Alcorn  University  in  1874  when  he  defected  to  Democratic  Party. 
Renamed  to  the  Presidency  in  1874.  Owned  Mount  Welcome  plantation 
east  of  Natchez  in  the  1890s.  Died  in  1901. 


Speed,  Oscar. 


Williams,  Jeremiah  M.P. 


Adams  County  Board  of  Supervisors,  1877. 

Virginia  born  ex-slave,  Baptist  preacher  who  was  elected  to  Mississippi 
state  senate  in  1870-74  and  again  in  1878.  Active  in  Union  League  in 
Natchez  in  1870s. 


Winston,  Louis  J. 


Free  black  born  in  Natchez,  became  most  successful  black  lawyer  in 
Adams  County.  Represented  numerous  blacks  in  land  dealings  in 
county  in  1870s  and  1880s.  Sheriff  of  Adams  County  in  1870s.  Also 
served  as  circuit  clerk  of  Adams  County  for  twenty  consecutive  terms, 
County  Assessor  in  1876.  Served  three  years  as  collector  of  port  of 
Natchez  in  the  late  1890s.  Published  the  Natchez  Reporter,  1890-1909. 
Also  practiced  law  in  Greenville,  Mississippi  after  1900.  Generally 
believed  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  sophisticated  and  cultivated  men 
of  Natchez. 


Wood,  Robert  H. 


Member  of  free  black  family  of  Natchez.  Worked  in  the  same  Natchez 
photography  shop  in  Natchez  as  John  R.  Lynch  in  1865.  Appointed  first 
black  mayor  of  Natchez  by  Governor  Alcorn  in  1869.  Justice  of  the 
Peace  in  Natchez  in  1870.  Elected  mayor  in  1871.  President  of  Adams 
County  Board  of  Supervisors,  1871  and  1872.  Served  as  deputy  post 
master  of  Natchez  in  1873  and  as  post  master  from  1874  to  1876. 
Elected  sheriff  and  tax  collector  of  Adams  County  in  1875.  County 
sheriff  in  1877.  Owned  thirty-six  acre  farm  in  1870.  Served  along  with 
Robert  Fitzhugh  as  political  managers  of  John  R.  Lynch's  election 
campaign  to  U.  S.  Congress  in  1870. 


Sources:  The  material  above  was  compiled  from  sources  too  numerous  to  mention,  including  the 
Natchez  Democrat  ,  but  principally  from  unpublished  information  provided  in  detail  by  Eric  Foner 
on  black  officeholders  in  Mississippi. 


The  brief  outline  above,  unfortunately,  is  all  that  is  readily  known  about  black  politics  in 
Natchez  in  the  Reconstruction  era.  The  questions  left  unanswered  are  both  compelling  and 
essential.  For  example,  we  know  absolutely  nothing  of  the  black  militia  in  Natchez  in  the 
late  1860s  and  1870s.  There  is  evidence  that  blacks  paraded  in  militia  units  long  after  the 
last  black  soldiers  of  the  USCT  were  mustered  out  of  service  in  the  summer  of  1866.  But 


205 


who  were  its  leaders?  How  extensive  were  its  operations.  What  political  role  did  the  militia 
play? 

Along  the  same  lines,  what  about  the  Ku  Klux  Klan?  Again,  we  have  scattered  references 
to  Klan  activity  in  Natchez  and  the  town's  immediate  hinterland,  but  no  clear  evidence 
that  the  Klan  posed  a  threat  similar  to  the  terror  it  wrought  in  other  parts  of  the  state. 
According  to  our  best  evidence,  the  Klan  was  somewhat  active  in  outlying  areas  near 
Kingston  and  the  hamlet  of  Washington,  but  to  no  great  effect.  In  the  mid-1870s,  although 
organized  Klan  activity  apparently  had  stopped,  local  Democratic  political  clubs  allegedly 
used  force  to  replace  Republican  ballots  with  fraudulent  Democratic  votes  in  several  rural 
precincts.  Armed  and  mounted  members  of  white  Democratic  clubs  brandished  clubs  and 
weapons  in  displays  of  force  at  almost  every  election  in  rural  Adams  County  from  1875  to 
the  middle  1880s;  but  similar  demonstrations  by  African-American  Republicans  also 
occurred.  Just  how  extensive  was  the  Klan  of  Adams  County  is  a  story  yet  to  be  told.39 

Nor  do  we  know  much  about  the  Union  Leagues  in  Natchez.  We  have  numerous 
newspaper  references  documenting  heated  organizational  activities  in  which  schoolhouses 
and  church  buildings  were  used  as  organizational  halls  by  night.  The  Rev.  Jeremiah  P. 
Williams  regularly  used  his  church  on  Main  Street  to  exhort  his  black  constituency  to  vote 
for  black  Republicans.  The  Natchez  Democrat,  in  further  testimony  of  League  activism, 
criticized  a  Union  League  organizer  in  Natchez  for  giving  a  speech  that  even  "the  arch 
Radical  fThaddeus}  Stevens  would  have  blushed  to  have  heard.  .  .  ."  So  effective  was  the 
Natchez  based  Union  League  that  Adams  County  was  considered  a  guaranteed  district  for 
black  Republicans  until  the  mid- 1880s,  returning  blacks  to  local  and  state  office  regularly 
and  with  little  effective  opposition.  But  just  how  the  League  was  structured,  who  were  its 
leaders,  and  how  the  organization  changed  over  time  remains  to  be  seen.391 

How  radical,  moreover,  were  the  black  political  activists  of  the  Natchez  district?  It  seems 
that  most  of  those  Natchez  black  politicians  who  survived  into  the  1880s  were  decidedly 
moderate  in  their  positions.  Hiram  Revels,  for  example,  the  first  African-American  to  serve 
in  the  U.  S.  Senate,  had  little  intention  of  getting  into  politics  when  he  assumed  the 
pastorship  of  the  town's  AME  church.  A  conflict  between  two  factions  of  Natchez  blacks, 
in  1869,  over  whom  they  would  support  for  state  senator  was  the  means  of  Revels' 
ascendancy.  Supporters  of  the  two  principal  candidates  (Henry  Jacobs  and  Jeremia  M.  P. 
Williams)  turned  to  Revels  as  an  unknown  who  "had  never  attended  a  political  meeting," 
or  "made  a  political  speech.  .  .  ."  Respected,  nevertheless,  as  an  intelligent  minister.  Revels 
won  appointment  as  a  compromise  candidate.  Fortune  struck  a  second  time  when  Revels 
opened  the  newly  convened  Senate  with  a  prayer.  According  to  John  Lynch,  that  prayer, 
"one  of  the  most  impressive"  ever  delivered  in  the  Senate  chamber,  started  a  movement 
to  appoint  Revels  to  fill  Jefferson  Davis's  unexpired  term  in  the  U.  S.  Senate.  Although 
Revels  commanded  a  great  deal  of  attention  while  in  Washington,  his  short  career  was  a 


390.  Natchez  Weekly  Democrat,  January  1,  1868;  August  3.  1868;  Fitzgerald.  The  Union  League  Movement 
in  the  Deep  South,  pp.  38.  66,  185,  224;  Garner.  Reconstruction  in  Mississippi.  338-353;  Harris.  The  Day  of  the 
Carpetbagger,  p.  382;  Derrick  Ward.  "The  Ku  Klux  Klan  of  Adams  County.  1866-1875,"  unpublished  graduate 
seminar  paper.  California  State  University.  Northridge.  in  author's  possession;  Wharton.  The  Negro  in 
Mississippi,  pp.  131-233. 

391.  Natchez  Weekly  Democrat,  June  10,  1867;  December  7,  1870:  January  4,  1871;  April  9,  1871:  November 
13.  1872;  November  2,  1875;  July  3.  1876;  November  4,  1879; 

206 


model  of  moderation,  culminating  in  his  support  for  a  bill  removing  all  political  limitations 
on  southern  whites.392 

If  few  Natchez  black  political  leaders  were  as  moderate  as  Revels,  none  were  especially 
radical.  No  Natchez  black  leader,  for  example,  supported  the  confiscation  of  lands  for 
redistribution  to  the  freedmen.  Indeed,  the  most  active  black  Union  League  organizer  in 
Natchez,  Secretary  of  State  James  Lynch,  denounced  confiscation.  What  set  Natchez  black 
politicos  apart  from  their  fellow  white  Republicans  was  their  opposition  to  segregation  and 
their  insistence  on  being  included  on  Republican  tickets.  What  set  them  apart  from  white 
Democrats  was  their  vocal  support  of  political  and  economic  equality.393 

Beginning  around  1875,  as  white  home  rule  settled  itself  upon  the  state,  fewer  and  fewer 
blacks  were  elected  to  public  office  in  Natchez  or  Adams  County.  What  followed  in  the 
years  from  1876  to  1890  was  a  series  of  legislative,  terroristic,  and  constitutional  measures 
aimed  at  eliminating  the  black  vote  in  the  state.  Natchez  politician  John  Lynch  met,  in 
1887,  with  race  leaders  from  forty  counties,  in  the  largest  "colored  convention"  in  state 
history,  to  denounce  the  "violent  and  criminal  suppression  of  the  black  vote"  in  Mississippi. 
In  1868,  Mississippi  registered  voters  numbered  approximately  87,000  blacks;  by  1892,  the 
number  had  dropped  to  less  than  9,000.  In  Adams  county,  black  registered  votes,  in  1892, 
numbered  342  males  out  of  a  voting  age  population  in  excess  of  4,000.  The  black  delegate 
to  the  state  assembly  from  Natchez,  lawyer  George  F.  Bowles,  spoke  of  his  people  having 
been  reduced,  with  the  loss  of  their  suffrage,  to  a  position  "more  intolerable  than  the  old- 
time  slavery."394 

And  yet  Natchez  blacks  continued  to  hold  public  office.  John  Lynch,  a  fairly  substantial 
property  owner  in  Adams  County,  won  a  hard  fought  battle  to  return  to  the  U.  S.  Congress 
in  the  1880s.  Lynch  also  won,  thereafter,  continued  appointment  to  public  office  long  after 
blacks  stopped  voting  in  Mississippi,  as  did  a  number  of  his  Natchez  associates  — 
including  his  partner  in  business,  the  black  lawyer  Louis  J.  Winston.  Historians  of 
Mississippi  refer  to  the  continued  presence  of  black  office  holders  in  the  face  of  declining 
black  voters  as  a  form  of  fusion  politics  in  which  white  Democrats  and  black  Republicans 
gave  token  representation  to  those  black  leaders  in  the  community  deemed  acceptable  to 
the  white  power  structure.  Something  of  this  sort  seems  to  have  taken  place  in  Adams 
County  in  the  years  after  1876,  although  the  details  of  this  arrangement  are  obscure  and 
unresearched  as  of  this  writing.  But  the  fact  that  African-American  Louis  J.  Winston  could 
serve  twenty  consecutive  terms  as  circuit  clerk  of  the  county  court  suggests  that  more  was 


392.  Lynch,  The  Autobiography  of  John  Roy  Lynch,  pp.  75-84;  Sewell  and  Dwight,  Mississippi  Black  History 
Makers,  pp.  7-16;  Wharton,  The  Negro  in  Mississippi,  pp.  158-180. 

393.  Natchez  Courier,  January  11,  1868;  Fitzgerald,  The  Union  League  Movement  in  the  Deep  Scuth.  pp.  124- 
125.  It  is  important  to  note  that  a  number  of  Natchez  blacks  cast  their  lot  with  white  Democrats  in  the 
Reconstruction  era.  A  so-called  Citizens  Reform  ticket  ran  "lily  white"  democrats  and  respected  "colored 
Leaders"  in  several  elections  in  the  mid- 1870s.  Even  the  once  radical  William  McCary  joined  forces  with  the 
Democrats  in  opposition  to  black  Republicans  in  local  contest.  See  especially  the  Natchez  Democrat,  July  20, 
1868;  December  7.  1870;  November  2,  1875. 

394.  McMillen,  Dark  Journey:  Black  Mississippians  in  the  Age  of  Jim  Crow,  p.  36,  47,  53;  Wharton,  The 
Negro  in  Mississippi,  pp.  208-210;  white  election  commissioners  simply  disallowed  blacks  to  register  or  else 
dumped  the  black  cast  ballots  at  the  end  of  the  election  day,  substituting  Democratic  ballots  in  their  place. 

207 


involved  than  mere  fusion  politics.  Rather,  the  full  story  will  have  to  take  into  account  the 
viability  of  a  black  community  rooted  in  antebellum  linkages  between  free  blacks  and  their 
white  benefactors,  the  emergence  of  an  organizationally  strong  but  relatively  conservative 
black  political  leadership  in  the  1860s  and  1870s,  the  moderate  political  leanings  of  many 
of  the  town's  white  inhabitants,  and  the  cohesive  role  of  black  churches  and  fellowship 
societies  in  channelling  much  of  the  town's  black  political  energies  into  education, 
economic  advancement,  and  societal  autonomy.395 


Regardless  of  how  the  story  of  the  black  experience  in  Natchez  will  eventually  be  told,  its 
conclusion  is  quite  unsatisfying  in  view  of  the  promise  held  out  in  the  immediate  post-war 
years.  By  1880,  Natchez  blacks,  both  rural  and  urban,  were  little  more  than  a  poorly 
educated  and  unskilled  labor  force  with  few  political  rights  and  little  hope  for  the  future. 
The  great  experiment  of  the  1860s  and  1870s  had  largely  come  to  naught.  No  black 
political  clubs  dotted  the  land  or  filled  church  halls  with  their  excited  members.  No  black 
politicians  again  held  significant  public  office  in  Adams  County  on  the  strength  of  the 
black  vote  alone  or  in  unity  with  white  Republicans.  In  the  countryside,  nearly  all  of  the 
district's  ex-slaves  were  so  heavily  indebted  to  their  supply  merchants  that  the  only  escape 
was  to  run  away  —  much  as  had  been  the  case  in  slavery.  It  mattered  little  that  they  were 
sharecroppers,  tenants,  or  even  landowners.  The  hated  crop  lien  held  them  all  equally  fast. 

This  is  not  to  say,  however,  that  nothing  had  changed  in  the  district  for  the  better.  Among 
the  town's  seven  churches  and  one  temple  were  three  black  ones:  the  Zion  AME  Church 
located  at  the  corner  of  Pine  and  Jefferson  (Rev.  Adam  Jackson),  the  Rose  Hill  Baptist 
Church  at  Union  and  Rankin  streets  (Rev.  Randall  Pollard),  and  the  Pine  Street  Baptist 
Church  (No  settled  pastor).  Also,  385  black  children  attended  the  black  public  school  on 
Union  street.  Its  principal,  Theodore  H.  Green,  employed  a  black  staff  of  six  teachers,  four 
of  whom  were  descendants  of  prominent  free  black  antebellum  families  in  Natchez  — 
Anna  Johnson,  Mary  F.  Winston,  Kate  Smith,  and  Anna  Hoggatt.  There  were  two  black 
volunteer  fire  companies  in  town,  one  located  on  Commerce  Street  between  Main  and 
State,  and  the  other  on  the  corner  of  Pearl  and  State.  Company  members  elected  officers 
and  conducted  themselves  much  like  a  social  organization,  the  closest  resemblance  to 
political  clubs  tolerated  in  the  constrained  milieu  following  1876.  The  130  members  of  the 
Mississippi  Good  Will  Fire  Brigade  looked  to  William  McCary  as  their  president.  Its  rival 
company,  Deluge  No.  2,  numbered  sixty  members,  including  the  prominent  Anthony 
Hoggatt  as  its  Treasurer.396  (See  ILLUSTRATION  M) 

Other  "colored"  men  of  property,  mainly  descendants  of  antebellum  free  blacks,  continued 
to  function  as  Natchez  civil  servants  for  the  duration  of  the  1870s.  Robert  W.  Fitzhugh 
served  as  postmaster  and  Justice  of  the  Peace.  Anthony  Hoggatt  held  a  seat  on  the  city's 
Board  of  Education.  Robert  Wood  won  a  second  term  as  county  sheriff  and  tax  collector. 


395.  Wharton,  The  Negro  in  Mississippi,  p.  169. 

396.  Natchez  Directory  For  1877-1878  (Natchez,  Miss..  1878).  Historic  Natchez  Foundation.  Natchez. 
Mississippi.  Some  nineteen  plantation  and  rural  black  schools  wore  staffed  throughout  the  county  by  African- 
American  teachers  under  the  supervision  of  an  African-American  controlled  Board  of  School  Directors  in  the 
1870s  and  1880s. 

208 


Black  Natchez 

O  Zion  AME  Chapel 

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®  Wall  Street  Baptist  Church 

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209 


and  Louis  J.  Winston  clerked  for  the  Circuit  Court  of  Adams  County.  The  town's  six 
Masonic  organizations  included  the  "colored"  H.  R.  Revels  Lodge,  to  which  postmaster 
Fitzhugh  and  Sheriff  Wood  belonged.397 

The  Reconstruction  era,  in  view  of  the  above  achievements  and  viable  character  of  the 
black  community,  was  a  time  of  meaningful  gain  for  the  African-Americans  of  Natchez 
when  compared  to  what  they  had  known  in  slavery.  The  achievements,  moreover,  were 
specific  and  enduring:  the  right  to  freely  associate  with  one  another  in  churches  and 
fraternal  associations;  to  marry  and  hold  property;  to  have  recourse  to  the  courts  for 
redress  of  property  disputes;  to  work  free  of  daily  overlording;  and  to  largely  come  and  go 
as  they  pleased.  These  were  no  small  victories  for  a  largely  illiterate  and  impoverished 
people  just  "up  from  slavery." 

In  a  fundamental  sense,  however,  the  gains  ware  largely  superficial  in  that  all  the  hard 
won  freedoms  of  assembly,  property,  education,  and  religion  had  failed  to  break  the  chains 
of  poverty  binding  the  vast  majority  of  ex-slaves  to  the  soil  as  lowly  agricultural  workers. 
The  fact  that  these  chains  were  left  unbroken  meant  that  little  could  be  done  to  prevent 
the  erosion  of  black  suffrage  once  Reconstruction  was  brought  to  a  close.  As  a  result,  most 
Natchez  blacks  in  the  1880s  (urban  and  rural  alike)  found  themselves  in  an  economic, 
social,  and  political  box  —  much  as  had  been  the  case  in  slavery  —  from  which  there  was 
no  obvious  exit.398 


397.  Ibid. 

398.  Sec   especially   Davis,    Good   and   Faithful   Labor,   pp.    168-197;   McMillen,   Dark   Journey:      Black 
Mississippians  in  the  Age  of  Jim  Crow.   Wharton.  The  Negro  in  Mississippi,  pp.  274-275. 

210 


EPILOGUE 


Buried  deep  within  the  records  of  the  William  Johnson  family  papers  are  several  letters 
that  fit  together  like  pieces  of  a  puzzle,  revealing  much  about  the  black  experience  in 
Natchez,  about  what  had  changed  over  the  years  and  about  what  had  not.  The  first  to  be 
noted  is  a  letter  written  to  Miss  Anna  Johnson,  eldest  daughter  of  the  antebellum  free 
black  barber,  William  Johnson,  dated  August  17,  1897.  The  handwritten  piece  of  paper, 
signed  by  W.  G.  Benbrook,  Mayor  of  Natchez,  requested  a  favor  of  Miss  Johnson: 

My  son  Dr.  Otis  Benbrook  goes  to  Saint  Joseph  today  for  the  purpose  of 
remaining  there  to  practice  his  profession.  Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  give 
him  a  letter  introducing  him  to  Mr.  Cunningham,  requesting  him  to  assist 
him  among  his  friends  in  getting  practice  among  them.  By  doing  this  you 
will  greatly  oblige.399 

The  second  letter  is  a  note  written  to  Dr.  William  Johnson  from  John  Roy  Lynch,  attorney- 
at-law,  dated  December  27,  1937,  and  mailed  from  Lynch's  home  in  Chicago.400  The  note 
from  Lynch  is  personal  and  chatty,  wishing  health  and  regards: 

I  am  writing  you  extending  my  congratulations  and  best  wishes  with  the 
seasons  greetings. 

I  regret  very  much  to  learn  through  Mabel  that  your  health  is  not  as  good 
as  we  all  hoped  it  would  be.  We  are  all  anxious,  however,  about  you  and 
sincerely  hope  that  you  are  on  the  road  to  recovery  and  that  you  will  soon 
again  be  in  the  enjoyment  of  good  health.  I  am  pleased  to  be  able  to  say  that 
with  the  exception  of  defective  vision  and  hearing,  I  am  in  the  enjoyment  of 
my  usual  good  health,  and  Mrs  Lynch  is  also  well  and  hearty  and  joins  me 
in  extending  to  you  our  best  wishes  and  sincere  hope  that  when  we  hear 
from  you  again  it  will  be  to  inform  us  of  the  fact  that  you  are  also  enjoying 
the  blessings  of  this  life,  including  good  health  and  future  prosperity. 

My  wife's  relatives  and  also  Mabel  and  her  husband  join  me  in  best  wishes 
for  your  future  health  and  prosperity. 

With  sincere  regards  to  your  wife  and  other  members  of  your  household,  I 
remain 

Very  sincerely  your  uncle, 
J.  R.  Lynch 


399.  W.G.  Benbrook  to  Anna  Johnson,  August  17,   1897,  Johnson  Family  paper.     LSU,  Baton  Rouge. 
Louisiana. 

400.  John  R.  Lynch  to  Dr.  William  R.  Johnson,  December  27,  1937,  Johnson  Family  Paper. 

211 


The  Lynch  of  the  signature  above  was  the  state's  most  powerful  black  politician  in  the 
thirty  years  following  the  Civil  War.  He  had  left  Natchez  for  good  in  1912  to  live  and  work 
in  Chicago  as  a  lawyer,  where  he  died  at  age  ninety-two  in  1939. 401  The  Dr.  Johnson  to 
whom  Lynch  wrote  was  the  grandson  of  the  antebellum  William  Johnson.  Dr.  Johnson 
would  be  dead  within  a  year  of  Lynch's  letter.  He  had  graduated  from  Wilberforce 
University  in  Ohio  in  1897,  taking  thereafter  a  medical  degree  at  Howard  University.  A 
lifelong  resident  of  Natchez,  Dr.  Johnson  was  among  a  handful  of  black  professionals  — 
doctors,  lawyers,  and  teachers  —  with  deeply  embedded  antebellum  roots.  The  link 
between  Dr.  Johnson,  whose  aunt  was  the  Anna  Johnson  of  whom  Mayor  Benbrook 
requested  a  personal  favor,  and  the  prominent  Lynch  (Uncle  Lynch)  is  indicative  of  two 
interrelated  aspects  of  the  black  experience  in  Natchez:  (1)  some  members  of  the  black 
community  were  among  the  best  educated  and  most  influential  citizens  of  Natchez  by 
1900,  and  (2)  the  ties  between  the  offspring  of  Natchez  slaves  and  prominent  antebellum 
free  blacks  were  indeed  closely  strung.  Whether  they  were  relatives  by  blood  or  by  mere 
communion,  the  prominent  black  middle-class  of  Natchez  was  no  unkept  group  of  upstarts. 
Rather,  they  were  men  and  women  of  property  and  character  who  had  risen  about  as  far 
as  one  could  have  hoped  in  the  milieu  of  the  late  nineteenth-century  South. 

The  Anna  Johnson  addressed  by  Mayor  Benbrook  was  the  daughter  of  William  and  Ann 
Johnson,  the  eminent  free  black  family  of  antebellum  Natchez.  After  the  deaths  of  her 
mother,  in  1866,  and  her  older  brother,  Byron,  who  was  killed  in  1872,  Anna  L.  Johnson 
became  something  of  the  family's  matriarch.  Her  oldest  brother,  William,  suffered  from 
mental  illness  and  was  confined  to  a  mental  asylum  in  New  Orleans  for  most  of  his  adult 
life.  She  had  nine  siblings  in  all,  including  three  sisters  —  Alice,  Josephine,  and 
Katherine,  who  taught  with  Anna  in  Natchez  primary  schools.  One  other  sister,  Eugenia, 
appears  to  have  been  the  only  one  of  the  Johnson  daughters  to  have  married.  Of  Anna's 
two  surviving  brothers  in  the  1880s,  Richard  and  Clarence,  only  Richard  appears  with  any 
consistency  among  the  records.  He  operated  the  family  plantation,  Peachland,  for  much 
of  the  1890s. 

Anna  L.  Johnson  undoubtedly  did  what  she  could  for  Mayor  Benbrook's  son,  but  that 
Benbrook  should  have  asked  the  favor  at  all  is  the  item  of  interest.  Clearly,  the  Johnson 
family  of  Natchez  had  achieved  a  level  of  influence  by  1900  similar  to  that  accorded 
William  Johnson  in  his  lifetime. 

Upon  William  Johnson's  death  in  1852,  his  widow  sold  the  family's  farm  lands,  some  1562 
acres,  to  James  Surget,  for  $5  per  acre.  This  sale  netted  nearly  $8000,  a  sum  that  helped 
to  hold  the  family  together  as  the  older  brothers  came  of  age.  Both  William  Jr.  and  Byron 
followed  their  father's  profession  of  barbering,  probably  living  in  the  family  home  on  State 
Street  while  cutting  hair  in  the  family  shops.402 

Using  the  land  sale  money,  widow  Johnson  invested  carefully  for  the  remainder  of  her  life. 
In  1854,  the  family  purchased  two  lots  on  Magnolia  Street,  a  new  division  north  of  town 
just  below  the  bluffs  on  property  once  owned  by  the  Bellvue  Cotton  Press  Company. 


401.  See  Lynch.  The  Autobiography  of  John  Roy  Lynch,  pp.  ix-xxxix. 

402.  Deed,  July  11,  1853,  Anna  Johnson  to  James  Surget,  Adams  County  Deed  Book  KK.  Office  of  Records. 
Natchez.  Mississippi. 

212 


Whether  or  not  any  members  of  the  Johnson  clan  lived  in  the  Bellvue  Division  is  unclear, 
but  it  seems  unlikely  since  most  of  the  children  were  still  quite  young  at  the  time.403 

The  family  also  contracted,  in  the  same  year,  with  a  local  builder,  James  Hardee,  to 
construct  a  substantial  building  on  Main  Street  at  the  cost  of  $5278.64.  Sons  William  and 
Byron  operated  a  barber  shop  in  the  building  for  the  next  decade,  at  which  time,  in  1865, 
the  building  was  leased  as  a  storeroom  to  0.  H.  Ross  &  Co  at  "the  monthly  rent  of  one 
hundred  dollars,  to  be  paid  in  advance."  A  few  years  later,  in  November  of  1868,  Byron 
Johnson  purchased  a  town  lot  in  the  Woodlawn  Division  just  off  Pine  Ridge  Road  and  near 
the  present  site  of  Natchez  College;  his  sister  Anna  followed  suit  in  1869,  acquiring  a  piece 
of  property  nearby  for  $437. 404 

In  addition,  the  family  used  some  of  its  capital  to  loan  at  healthy  interest  rates  to 
prominent  whites  in  the  area.  In  one  case,  Byron  loaned  several  thousand  dollars  to 
Stephan  Duncan,  taking  out  a  mortgage  on  Duncan's  Magnolia  plantation  as  security. 

After  the  war,  and  with  widow  Johnson's  death,  the  family  focused  its  financial  attention 
on  a  goal  long  sought  by  the  senior  Johnson:  to  become  landed  planters.  In  partnership 
with  family  members,  Byron  Johnson  leased  several  district  plantations  which  he  operated 
by  using  freedmen  sharecroppers.  Johnson  rented  St.  Genevieve  and  Black  Hill  plantations 
in  Concordia  Parish,  Louisiana  and  the  well-established  Carthage  plantation  located  just 
south  of  town.  His  landlords  for  Carthage  were  John  and  Katherine  Surget  Minor  — 
members  of  two  of  the  community's  most  prominent  antebellum  families.  The  lease  and 
sharecropping  contracts  ran  from  one  to  three  years,  on  terms  fairly  typical  for  the  distrjct. 
In  the  case  of  Carthage,  Byron  agreed  to  pay  his  workers  one-half  the  crops  made  and  to 
furnish  all  mules,  plows,  and  implements  along  with  one-half  the  feed  expenses.  The 
freedmen  contracted  to  furnish  their  own  rations  and  proportionate  feed  for  stocks.  All 
hands  agreed  to  work  six  days  a  week  "commencing  at  day  light  until  dark,"  taking  one 
hour  for  dinner  in  winter  and  two  hours  in  summer.  Time  lost  was  docked  at  $1  per  day. 
In  all,  nine  hands  signed  the  contracts.406 

The  owners  of  Carthage,  John  and  Katherine  Minor,  allowed  Johnson  the  use  of  all 
tenements  and  quarters  on  the  place  except  the  main  residence,  one  end  of  the  corn  crib, 


403.  Deed,  October  23,  1854,  Alexander  S.  Postlethwaite  and  Wife,  and  Ayres  P.  Merrill  to  William  Johnson 
et  al,  Adams  County  Deed  Book  KK,  Office  of  Records,  Natchez,  Mississippi. 

404.  Deed,  November  23,  1868,  William  H.  Forbes  to  Byron  Johnson,  Adams  County  Deed  Book  PP.  Office 
of  Records,  Natchez,  Mississippi;  see  also  various  deed  transactions  in  Johnson  Family  Papers,  1868  to  1888. 
LSU,  Baton  Rouge,  Louisiana 

405.  See  mortgage  agreement  with  Stephen  Duncan,  1862  to  1871,  Johnson  Family  Papers,  LSU.  Baton 
Rouge,  Louisiana. 

406.  Agreement  with  Freedmen  on  the  Carthage  Plantation,  February  12,  1869;  Lease  agreement  with  John 
and  K.L.  Minor,  Carthage  Plantation.  February  15,  1869;  Lease  agreement  for  Black  Hill  Plantation.  December 
31,  1872;  Lease  agreement  for  St.  Genevieve  Plantation,  March  14,  1888,  Johnson  Family  Papers.  LSU.  Baton 
Rouge,  Louisiana. 

213 


and  the  gin  house.  In  return,  Byron  agreed  to  work  the  place  and  pay  the  Minors  $500, 
secured  by  a  lien  on  the  crop.40' 

Hundreds  of  similar  contracts  were  signed  by  district  planters  in  the  immediate  post-war 
years,  leasing  their  properties  to  outsiders  or  to  any-one  with  capital  enough  to  make  a 
crop.  Such  leasing  arrangements  enabled  the  district's  once  affluent  white  elite  to  hold 
onto  their  lands  while  obtaining  cash  for  taxes.  In  many  cases,  the  experiments  in  renting 
lands  to  tenants  (who  then  sharecropped  with  freedmen)  ended  poorly,  and  dozens  of 
planters  lost  their  lands  because  of  crop  failures  or  absconding  tenants.  The  difference  in 
the  case  of  lessee  Johnson  was  the  color  of  his  skin  and  the  success  he  brought  to  the 
venture. 

For  reasons  not  fully  clear,  the  Johnson  family  scaled  back  their  leasing  of  district  farms 
in  the  mid-1870s  in  favor  of  buying  450  acres  north  of  Natchez  on  the  Peachland 
plantation.  The  four  Johnson  sisters  —  Anna,  Katherine,  Alice,  and  Josephine  —  paid 
$600  at  8  percent  interest,  and  employed  their  brother  Richard  to  operate  the  farm  with 
sharecroppers  and  tenants.  This  arrangement  lasted  well  into  the  twentieth-century,  with 
Anna  eventually  establishing  residence  on  the  place  in  1912. 408 

Although  uncommonly  prosperous  and  well-respected,  the  Johnson  family  was  never  far 
from  hard  times.  They  were  forced  to  undertake  several  loans  on  their  Peachland  holdings 
in  the  1870s  and  1880s  for  rather  trifling  sums  of  money  that  were  probably  used  to  pay 
taxes  or  for  some  unspecified  emergencies.  The  first  mortgage  was  given  to  William  Lynch 
in  1875  for  $325,  secured  by  a  parcel  of  Peachland.  Ten  years  later,  Anna  raised  $200  with 
a  note  to  Duncan  Minor  and  James  Surget,  the  latter  being  a  member  of  the  same  Surget 
family  that  had  purchased  most  of  Ann  Johnson's  rural  lands  after  William  Johnson's 
death  in  the  early  1850s.  Another  note  was  taken  for  $600  in  1896.  In  addition  to  these 
secured  loans,  the  Johnson  women  sold  three  town  lots  on  State  Street  in  1892. 4G 

Catherine  Johnson,  the  wife  of  Clarence  (born  in  1851),  invested  in  town  lots  and  rural 
estate  property  seemingly  independent  of  the  family.  She  purchased  a  lot  on  Pearl  Street 
from  John  R.  Lynch  in  1883.  By  1891,  she  owned  several  more  adjoining  properties,  adding 
a  lot  on  Homochitto  Street  in  1898,  which  she  purchased  from  Lynch  for  $2000  on  a  two 
year  note.  That  same  year,  Lynch  sold  694  acres  of  the  Grove  Plantation  to  Catherine  for 
$3500  and  all  of  his  Providence  plantation,  amounting  to  220  acres.  Catherine  Johnson 


407.  Ibid. 

408.  Deed,  March  1,  1874,  J.M.  Calib  to  Anna  Johnson  et  al.  Adams  County  Deed  Book  TT.  Office  of  Records. 
Natchez.  Mississippi. 

409.  Deed.  May  8.  1875.  Anna  L.  Johnson  et  al.  to  William  Lynch.  Adams  County  Deed  Book  UU;  February 
16.  Anna  L.  Johnson  et  al.  to  Duncan  G.  Minor.  Adams  County  Deed  Book  ZZ;  January  16,  1892.  Anna  L. 
Johnson  to  W.C.  Martin,  Adams  County  Deed  Book  3-g;  December  12,  1896.  Anna  L.  Johnson  to  Ernest  E. 
Brown,  Adams  County  Deed  book  3-N,  Office  of  Records.  Natchez,  Mississippi. 

214 


and  Lynch  jointly  mortgaged  Providence  eleven  months  later  for  $2400,  suggesting  that 
Lynch  had  accepted  a  note  from  Catherine  in  payment  for  the  plantation.410 

What  the  records  reveal,  clearly,  is  a  measure  of  prosperity  for  the  Johnson  family  that 
was  substantial  indeed.  Landed  property,  connections,  and  an  educated  offspring  were,  in 
a  fundamental  sense,  the  earmarks  of  the  American  dream.  Yet  there  is  something  amiss 
in  the  story.  For  one  thing,  one  has  the  sense  that  the  basic  ingredients  of  black  prosperity 
in  postbellum  Natchez  were  the  same  as  those  at  play  in  the  antebellum  life  of  William 
Johnson:  white  patronage,  circumspectness,  limited  goals,  and  probity. 

The  Johnson  family  (similar  to  the  Maziques  and  Rounds)  clearly  benefited  over  the  years 
from  its  association  with  wealthy  members  of  the  white  community.  Prior  to  the  Civil  War 
the  wealthy  Adam  L.  Bingaman  had  functioned  as  William  Johnson's  patron  and  close 
family  friend;  after  the  war,  the  prominent  Surget  family  appears  frequently  in  the 
Johnson  business  dealings. 

Most  telling,  in  regard  to  the  white  community's  expectations,  is  the  obituary  that 
appeared  in  the  Natchez  Democrat  on  the  death  of  Byron  Johnson  in  1872.  The  piece  is 
quite  striking  in  its  resemblance  to  the  one  written  for  William  Johnson  some  twenty 
years  before: 

Byron  Johnson  was  born  here  in  our  midst,  about  27  years  ago.  His  father 
before  him  (a  free  man  of  color)  had  by  a  long  life  of  probity  and  rectitude, 
won  a  high  place  in  the  estimation  of  this  community,  and  about  twenty 
years  ago,  died  much  lamented,  at  the  hands  of  an  assassin.  Byron  [notice 
the  diminutive  use  of  the  first  name  only]  emulated  the  example  of  his 
father,  in  whose  worthy  memory  he  ever  felt  a  just  degree  of  pride.  And  by 
emulating  that  good  example,  Byron  easily  attained  to  an  enviable  position 
in  the  estimation  of  all  who  knew  him.  This  position  he  maintained  always. 
He  was  quiet,  decorous,  respectful  and  polite  in  his  demeanor  to  all  men.  Of 
modest  and  retiring  habits,  he  attended  closely  to  his  business,  eschewing 
political  strife,  though  he  was  often  urged  to  enter  it,  and  had  the 
intelligence,  energy  and  ability  to  win  place  and  distinction,  had  he  chosen 
to  be  a  public  man  since  the  enfranchisement  of  his  race.  .  .  .  He  was 
temperate,  generous,  public-spirited,  moral.  He  was  honest  and  true.  In 
short  he  was  an  upright  honest  man.411 

In  summation,  Byron  Johnson,  like  his  father,  was  a  man  unwilling  to  challenge,  at  least 
openly,  the  existing  social  and  political  order  Perhaps  he  worked  behind  the  scenes,  as  was 
probably  the  case  in  view  of  the  Johnson  family's  close  links  to  John  Lynch.  There  can  be 
no  doubt,  however,  that  his  activities  were  modest  ones  else  something  would  have 


410.  Deed,  July  2,  1883,  John  R.  Lynch  to  Catherine  E.L,  Johnson,  Adams  County  Deed  Book  YY;  Deed, 
January  1,  1898,  John  R.  Lynch  to  Catherine  E.L.  Johnson,  Adams  County  Deed  Book,  3-0;  Deed.  January 
12,  1898,  John  R.  Lynch  to  Catherine  E.L.  Johnson,  Adams  County  Deed  Book,  3-0;  Deed  January  24,  1898, 
John  R.  Lynch  to  Catherine  E.L.  Johnson,  Adams  County  Deed  Book  3-P;  Deed,  December  31,  1898,  John  R. 
Lynch  and  Catherine  E.L.  Johnson  to  A.H.  Gusenberger,  Adams  County  Deed  book,  3-P,  Office  of  Records. 
Natchez,  Mississippi. 

411.  Natchez  Democrat,  January  17,  1872. 

215 


appeared  in  the  local  press.  That  he  died  so  early  in  the  Reconstruction  era  makes  using 
him  as  an  example  somewhat  unfair;  but  it  is  clear  that  no  member  of  the  Johnson  clan 
ever  used  their  antebellum  prominence  as  a  stepping  stone  to  political  leadership  in  the 
postbellum  era.  Nor  was  it  accidental  or  of  no  consequence  that  a  number  of  the  black 
propertied  families  (Rounds,  Maziques,  and  Johnsons)  of  postbellum  Natchez  were  non- 
political  for  the  most  part. 

Finally,  it  is  worth  reiterating,  that  none  of  the  community's  handful  of  African-Americans 
of  property,  achieved  substantial  wealth  compared  to  what  owning  plantations  and  farms 
had  meant  in  antebellum  days.  To  be  a  planter  in  Adams  County,  owning  one  or  two 
plantations  in  the  1880s,  was  to  be  a  person  of  rather  shabby,  middling  class  status.  To 
own  a  Peachland  or  a  China  Grove  was  to  own  several  hundred  acres  of  relatively  worn 
out  soil.  That  is  why  the  Johnson  sisters  remained  public  school  teachers  all  their  lives, 
borrowed  petty  sums  when  necessary,  and  educated  their  children  as  doctors  and  teachers. 
Slaveless  plantations  afforded  their  upland  Adams  County,  postbellum  owners  (blacks  and 
whites  alike)  a  minimum  of  income,  barely  enough  for  their  solvency.  Clearly,  the  Johnson 
family  enjoyed  influence  and  relative  prosperity  in  the  decades  after  the  Civil  War;  but  the 
family  never  rose  above  a  rather  shabby  standard  of  living —  a  mockery  of  the  status  once 
experienced  by  the  white  elites  who  had  lorded  over  the  same  lands  in  antebellum  days. 

Still,  it  is  important  to  emphasize  in  closing  just  how  significant  was  the  Benbrook  note 
to  Anna  Johnson.  It  is  evidence  of  a  continuity  of  sorts  in  the  close  ties  of  some  Natchez 
blacks  and  some  prominent  members  of  the  white  community.  Clearly,  the  Johnson  family, 
for  whatever  reasons,  was  a  family  of  influence  whom  the  Natchez  community  (blacks  and 
whites  alike)  looked  upon  with  favor  and  respect.  Even  while  John  Lynch  and  most  other 
blacks  were  being  deprived  of  their  suffrage  throughout  the  state  in  the  1890s,  segregated 
by  Jim  Crow  laws,  driven  (in  the  case  of  some)  from  the  state,  and  even  (in  the  case  of 
many)  lynched,  the  Johnson  family  held  onto  their  lands,  educated  their  children  as 
doctors,  and  received  complimentary  notes  requesting  favors  from  prominent  whites.  Why 
and  how  the  Johnson  family  managed  to  persevere  with  its  antebellum  status 
undiminished  (and  perhaps  enhanced)  —  at  least  through  the  1930s  —  is  a  tale  that  must 
someday  be  told. 


216 


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Wallace,  Jesse  Thomas.  A  History  of  Negroes  of  Mississippi  from  1865  to  1890.  New  York, 
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Wayne,  Michael.  The  Reshaping  of  Plantation  Society:  The  Natchez  District,  1860-1880. 
Baton  Rouge,  LA,  1982. 

Weaver,  Herbert.  Mississippi  Farmers,  1850-1860.  Nashville,  TN,  1945. 

Wharton,  Vernon  Lane.  The  Negro  in  Mississippi,  1865-1890.  Chapel  Hill,  NC,  1947. 

Whitaker,  Arthur  P.  The  Spanish  American  Frontier,  1 783-1795:  The  Westward  Movement 
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White,  Deborah  Gray.  Ar'n't  I  A  Woman?  Female  Slaves  in  the  Plantation  South.  New 
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White,  Howard  A.  The  Freedmen's  Bureau  in  Louisiana.  Baton  Rouge,  LA,  1970. 

Wikramanayake,  Marina.  A  World  in  Shadow:  The  Free  Black  in  Antebellum  South 
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Wiley,  Bell  Irvin.  Southern  Negroes,  1861-1865.  New  haven,  CT,  1938. 

Williamson,  Joel.  New  People.  Miscegenation  and  Mulattoes  in  the  United  States.  New 
York,  NY,  1980. 

Wilson,  Theodore  B.,  The  Black  Codes  of  the  South.  Tuscaloosa,  AL,  1965. 

Winters,  John  D.  The  Civil  War  in  Louisiana.  Baton  Rouge,  LA,  1963. 

Woodson,  Carter.  G.  ed.  Free  Negro  Owners  of  Slaves  in  the  United  States  in   1830. 
Washington,  D.C.,  1924;  rpr  in  1968. 

Woodman,  Harold  D.  King  Cotton  and  His  Retainers:  Financing  and  Marketing  of  the  Crop 
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230 


ARTICLES  AND  ESSAYS 

Abbey,  Kaihryn  T.  "Peter  Chester's  Defense  of  the  Mississippi  After  the  Willing  Raid." 
Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Review  XXII  (1935),  pp.  17-32. 

Abbot,  Martin.  "Free  Land,  Free  Labor,  and  Freedmen's  Bureau,  1865-1868."  Agricultural 
History  XXX  (October  1956),  pp.  150-156. 

Bearss,  Edwin  C.  "The  Armed  Conflict,  1861-1865."  In  A  History  of  Mississippi,  ed. 
Richard  Aubrey  McLemore.  Hattiesburg,  MS,  1973,  pp.  447-491. 

Bigelow,  Martha  Mitchell.  "Freedmen  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  1862-1865."  Civil  War 
History  VIII  (March  1962),  pp.  38-47. 

Bettersworth,  John  K.  "The  Home  Front,  1861-1865."  In  A  History  of  Mississippi,  ed. 
Richard  Aubrey  McLemore.  Hattiesburg,  MS,  1973.  pp.  492-571. 

Calhoun,  Robert  Dabney.  "A  History  of  Concordia  Parish,  Louisiana."  Louisiana  History 
Quarterly  XV  (January  1932),  pp.  44-67;  15  (April  1932),  pp.  214-33;  XV  (July 
1932),  pp.  428-52;  XV  (October  1932),  pp.  618-45;  16  (January  1933),  pp.  92-124. 

Calderhead,  W.  "How  Extensive  Was  The  Border  State  Slave  Trade?  A  New  Look."  Civil 
War  History  XXVII  (1972),  pp.  42-55. 

Caughey,  John  W.  "The  Natchez  Rebellion  of  1781  and  Its  Aftermath."  Louisiana 
Historical  Quarterly  XV  (1932),  pp.  57-83. 

.  "Willing's  Expedition  Down  the  Mississippi,  1778.)  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 


XV  (1932),  pp.  5-36. 

Clark,  Thomas  D.  "The  Slave  Trade  Between  Kentucky  and  the  Cotton  Kingdom."  The 
Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Review  XXI  (915),  pp.  331-342. 

Cox,  LaWanda.  "The  Promise  of  Land  for  the  Freedmen."  Mississippi  Valley  Historical 
Review  XLV  (June  1958),  pp.  413-440. 

Davis,  Ronald  L.  F.  "The  U.S.  Army  and  the  Origins  of  Sharecropping  in  the  Natchez 
District:  A  Case  Study."  Journal  of  Negro  History  LXII  (1977),  pp.  60-80. 

Elliott,  Jack  D.  Jr.  "The  Fort  of  Natchez  and  the  Colonial  Origins  of  Mississippi."  The 
Journal  of  Mississippi  History  LII  (August  1990),  pp. 159-198. 

Foner,  Eric.  "Black  Reconstruction  Leaders  at  the  Grass  Roots."  In  Black  Leaders  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century,  ed.  Leon  Litwack  and  August  Meier,  Urbana,  IL,  1988, 
pp.  219-236. 

Green,  John  A.  "Governor  Perier's  Expedition  against  the  Natchez  Indians."  Louisiana 
Historical  Quarterly  XIX  (1936),  pp.  547-77. 


231 


Greenberg,  Kenneth  S.  "The  Civil  War  and  the  Redistribution  of  Land:  Adams  County, 
Mississippi,  1860-1870."  Agricultural  History  LII  (April  1978),  pp.  292-307. 

Hamilton,  Earl  J.  "The  Role  of  Monopoly  in  the  Overseas  Expansion  and  Colonial  Trade 
of  Europe  Before  1800."  American  Economic  Review  XXXVII  (May  1948),  pp.  33-53. 

Hamilton,   William   B.    "The   Southwestern   Frontier,    1795-1817:  An   Essay  in   Social 
History."  The  Journal  of  Southern  History  X  (  February  1944),  pp. 389-403. 

Harris,  William  C.  "Formulation  of  the  First  Mississippi  Plan:  The  Black  Code  of  1865." 
Journal  of  Mississippi  History  XXIX  (November  1967),  pp.  181-89. 

.  "James  Lynch:  Black  Leader  in  Southern  Reconstruction."  Historian  XXXIV 


(1971),  pp.  40-61. 

Haws,  Richard  J.  and  Michael  V.  Namorato.  "Race,  Property  Rights,  and  the  Economic 
Consequences  of  Reconstruction:  A  Case  Study."  Vanderbilt  Law  Review  XXXII 
(1979),  pp.  305-326. 

Haynes,  Robert  V.  "James  Willing  and  the  Planters  of  Natchez:  The  American  Revolution 
Comes  to  the  Southwest."  Journal  of  Mississippi  History  XXXVII  (1975).  pp.  1-40. 

Highsmith,  William  E.  "Louisiana  Landholding  During  War  and  Reconstruction."  The 
Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly  XXXVIII  (January  1955),  pp.  27-38. 

Holmes,  Jack  D.  "A  Spanish  Province:  1779-1798."  In  A  History  of  Mississippi,  ed.  Richard 
Aubrey  McLemore.  Hattiesburg,  MS,  1973.  pp.  158-173. 

.  "Indigo  in  Colonial  Louisiana  and  the  Floridas."  Louisiana  History  VIII  (1967), 

pp.  329-349. 

.    "Livestock   in   Spanish   Natchez."   The  Journal  of  Mississippi  History  XXIII 

(January  1961),  pp.  15-37. 

.  "Stephen  Minor:  Natchez  Pioneer."  The  Journal  of  Mississippi  History  XLII 


(February  1980),  pp.  17-26. 

Howard,  C.  N.  "Colonial  Natchez:  The  Early  British  Period."  Journal  of  Mississippi 
History  VII  (1945),  pp. 

Howell,  Walter  G.  "The  French  Period,  1699-1763."  In  A  History  of  Mississippi,  ed.  Richard 
Aubrey  McLemore.  Hattiesburg,  MS,  1973.  pp.  110-133. 

Humphrey,  George  D.  "The  Failure  of  the  Mississippi  Freedmen's  Bureau  in  Black  Labor 
Relations,  1865-1867."  The  Journal  of  the  Histon'  of  Medicine  and  Allied  Sciences 
XXVIII  (July  1973),  pp.  23-37. 

Jenkins,  Robert  L.  "African-Americans  on  the  Natchez  Trace,  1800-1865."  The  Southern 
Quarterly  XXIX  (Summer  1991),  pp.  43-61. 


232 


Johnson,  Michael  P.  and  James  L.  Roark.  "A  Middle  Ground:  Free  Mulattoes  and  the 
Friendly  Moralist  Society  of  Antebellum  Charleston."  Southern  Studies  XXI  (Fall 
1982),  pp.  246-265. 

Kynerd,  Byrle  A.  "British  West  Florida."  In  A  History  of  Mississippi,  ed.  Richard  Aubrey 
McLemore.  Hattiesburg,  MS,  1973,  pp.  134-157. 

LaChance,  Paul  F.  "The  Politics  of  Fear:  French  Louisianians  and  the  Slave  Trade,  1786- 
1809."  Plantation  Society  I  (June  1979),  pp.  162-197. 

Legan,  Marshal  Scott.  "Disease  and  the  Freedmen  in  Mississippi  during  Reconstruction." 
The  Journal  of  the  History  of  Medicine  and  Allied  Sciences  XXVIII  (July  1973),  pp. 
257-267. 

Lewis,  Anna.  ed.  "Fort  Panmure,  1779,  as  Related  by  Juan  Delavillebeuvre  to  Bernardo 
de  Galvez."  Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Review  XVIII  (1931-32),  pp. 

Libby,  Billy  W.  "Senator  Hiram  Revels  of  Mississippi  Takes  His  Seat,  January-February, 
1870."  The  Journal  of  Mississippi  History  XXVII  (November  1975),  pp.  381-394. 

Mabry,  William  Alexander.  "Disfranchisement  of  the  Negro  in  Mississippi. "The  Journal 
of  Southern  History  IV  (August  1938),  pp.  318-333. 

May,  Robert  E.  "John  A.  Quitman  and  His  Slaves:  Reconciling  Slave  Resistance  with  the 
Proslavery  Defense."  The  Journal  of  Southern  History  XLVIKNovember  1980), 
pp.  551-570. 

Moore,  Clover.  "Separation  from  the  Union:  1854-1866."  In  A  History  of  Mississippi,  ed. 
Richard  Aubrey  McLemore.  Hattiesburg,  MS,  1973.  pp.  420-447. 

Moore,  John  Hebron.  "Simon  Gray,  Riverman:  A  Slave  Who  Was  Almost  Free."  Mississippi 
Valley  Historical  Review  XLIX  (1962),  pp.  223-238. 

Moore,  Margaret  DesChamps.  "Religion  in  Mississiopi  in  1860."  Journal  of  Mississippi 
History  XXII  (1960),  pp.  223-238. 

Nieman,  Donald,  G.  "The  Freedmen's  Bureau  and  the  Mississippi  Black  Code."  The 
Journal  of  Mississippi  History  XL  (May  1978),  pp. 

Pillar,  James.  "Religious  and  Cultural  Life  in  Mississippi,  1817-1860."  In  A  History  of 
Mississippi,  ed.  Richard  Aubrey  McLemore.  Hattiesburg,  MS,  1973,  pp.  378-419. 

Richard,  Wlysses  S.  Jr.  "African  Slavery  in  Provincial  Mississippi."  in  Native,  European, 
and  African  Cultures  in  Mississippi,  1500-1800,  ed  Patricia  K.  Galloway,  Baton 
Rouge,  LA,  1991,  pp.  77-90. 

Rothstein,  Morton.  "The  Antebellum  South  as  a  Dual  Economy:  A  Tentative  Hypothesis." 
Agricultural  History  XLI  (October  1967),  pp.  373-382. 


233 


.  "The  Natchez  Nabobs:  Kinship  and  Friendship  in  an  Economic  Elite."  In  Essays 

in  Honor  of  Arthur  C.  Cole,  ed.  Hans  Trefousse,  New  York,  NY,  1977,  pp.  97-111. 

Scanlon,  John.  "The  Yellow  Fever  Epidemic  of  1878  in  the  Diocese  of  Natchez."  The 
Catholic  Historical  Review  XL  (April  1954),  pp.  27-45. 

Schwarz,  Philip  J.  "The  Transportation  of  Slaves  from  Virginia,  1801-1865."  Slavery  and 
Abolition  VII  (December  1986),  pp.  215-240. 

Scott,  Kenneth.  "Britain  Loses  Natchez,  1779:  An  Unpublished  Letter."  Journal  of 
Mississippi  History  XXVI  (1964),  pp.  45-46. 

Siebert,  Wilbur  H.  "The  Loyalists  in  West  Florida  and  the  Natchez  District,"  Mississippi 
Valley  Historical  Review  II  (1930),  pp.  553-609. 

Sitterson,  J.  Carlyle.  "The  Transition  from  Slave  to  Free  Economy  on  the  William  J.  Minor 
Plantations."  Agricultural  History  XVII  (October  1943),  pp.  216-224. 

Sturdivant,  Laura  D.  S.  "One  Carbine  and  a  Little  Flour  and  Corn  in  a  Sack:  The 
American  Pioneer."  The  Journal  of  Mississippi  History  XXXVtl  (February  1975), 
pp.  43-66. 

Sweig,  Donald  M.  "Reassessing  the  Human  Dimension  of  the  Interstate  Slave  Trade." 
Prologue  XII  (Spring  1980),  pp.  5-19. 

Swearingen,  Mack.  "Thirty  Years  of  a  Mississippi  Plantation:  Charles  Whitmore  of 
'Montpelier.'"  The  Journal  of  Southern  History  I  (1935),  pp.  198-211. 

."Luxury  at  Natchez  in  1801:  A  Ship's  Manifest  from  the  McDonogh  Papers."  The 


Journal  of  Southern  History  III  (1937),  pp.  188-190. 

Sydnor,  Charles  S.  "The  Free  Negro  in  Mississippi  Before  the  Civil  War."  The  American 
Historical  Review  XXXII  (July  1927),  pp.  769-788. 

Taylor,  A.  A.  "The  Movement  of  Negroes  from  the  East  to  the  Gulf  States  From  1830  to 
1850."  Journal  of  Negro  History  VIII  (October,  1923),  pp.  367-383. 

Wayne,  Michael.  "An  Old  South  Morality  Play:  Reconsidering  the  Social  Underpinnings 
of  the  Proslavery  Ideology."  The  Journal  of  American  History  LXXVTI  (December 
1990),  pp.  838-863. 

Wells,  T.  H.  "Moving  A  Plantation  To  Louisiana."  Louisiana  Studies  VI  (1967),  pp.  79-81. 

Wesley,  Charles  H.  "Manifests  of  Slave  Shipments  Along  the  Waterways,  1808-1864." 
Journal  of  Negro  History  XXVII  (April  1942),  pp. 155-174. 

Wiener,  Jonathan  M.  "Class  Structure  And  Economic  Development  In  The  American 
South,  1865-1955."  American  Historical  Review  LXXXIV  (1979),  pp.  970-1006. 


234 


Wiley,  B.  I.  "Vicissitudes  of  Early  Reconstruction  Farming  In  The  Lower  Mississippi 
Valley."  The  Journal  of  Southern  History  III  (July  1937),  pp.  441-452. 

Wright,  Willard  E.  "Bishop  Elder  and  the  Civil  War."  The  Catholic  Historical  Review  XLIV 
(October  1958),  pp.  290-307. 

Woodman,  Harold  D.  "Post-Civil  War  Southern  Agriculture  and  the  Law."  Agricultural 
History  LIII  (1979),  pp.  319-337. 

."Sequel  to  Slavery:  The  New  History  Views  the  Postbellum  South."  The  Journal 


of  Southern  History  XLIII  (1977),  pp.  524-555. 


DISSERTATIONS,  THESES,  AND  UNPUBLISHED  PAPERS. 

Aikman,  John  D.  "Mount  Ararat:  A  Study  of  the  Development  of  a  Natchez  Area 
Plantation."  Ph.  D.  dissertation,  Stephen  F.  Austin  State  College,  1963. 

Black,  Andrew  K.  "In  the  Service  of  the  United  States:  Disease  and  Mortality  in  Black 
Civil  War  Soldiers."  Unpublished  graduate  seminar  paper,  California  State 
University,  Northridge.  In  author's  possession. 

Breese,  Donald  H.  "Politics  in  the  Lower  South  During  Presidential  Reconstruction."  Ph.D. 
dissertation,  LTniversity  of  California  at  Los  Angeles,  1963. 

Doolittle,  Jason.  "The  Natchez  Slave  Market."  Unpublished  graduate  seminar  paper, 
California  State  University,  Northridge.  In  author's  possession. 

Ellis,  Mark.  "Crime  and  Punishment  in  Antebellum,  Adams  County:  1855-1860." 
Unpublished  graduate  seminar  paper,  California  State  University,  Northridge.  In 
author's  possession 

Erdman,  Linda.  "Confederate  Impressment  and  Arming  of  Slaves."  Unpublished  graduate 
seminar  paper,  California  State  University,  Northridge.  In  author's  possession. 

Everett,  Donald  Edward.  "Free  Persons  of  Color  in  New  Orleans,  1803-1865."  Ph.D. 
dissertation,  Tulane  Univeristy,  1952. 

Ganus,  Clifton  L.  "The  Freedmen's  Bureau  in  Mississippi."  Ph.  D.  dissertation,  Tulane 
University,  1953. 

Groen,  Mark.  "John  C.  Jenkins:  An  Antebellum  Natchez  Planter."  Unpublished  seminar 
paper,  California  State  University,  Northridge.  In  author's  possession. 

Hoggan,  Joyce  L.  "Profile:  John  T.  McMurran  —  Yankee  by  Birth.  .  .  Southern  by  the 
Grace  of  God."  Unpublished  seminar  paper,  California  State  University, 
Northridge.  In  author's  possession. 


235 


Kahn-Morlee,  Lillian  Feldman.  "The  Jews  of  Natchez."  Unpublished  graduate  seminar 
paper,  California  State  University,  Northridge.  In  author's  possession. 

Kolin,  Ralph.  "John  R.  Lynch:  Partisan  for  Justice."  Unpublished  graduate  seminar  paper, 
California  State  University,  Northridge.  In  author's  possession. 

McMillan,  Richard.  "The  Coastal  Slave  Trade  to  Natchez."  Unpublished  graduate  seminar 
paper,  California  State  University,  Northridge.  In  author's  possession. 

Shulman,  Cecie.  "A.  L.  Bingaman:  The  Planter  Aristocrat  as  Social  Architect." 
Unpublished  graduate  seminar  paper,  California  State  University,  Northridge.  In 
author's  possession. 

Spencer,  Richard.  "The  Black  Artisans  of  Antebellum  Natchez."  Unpublished  graduate 
seminar  paper,  California  State  University,  Northridge.  In  author's  possession. 

Stites,  Barbara.  "Female  Associations  in  Antebellum  Natchez."  Unpublished  graduate 
seminar  paper,  California  State  University,  Northridge  In  author's  possession. 

Ward,  Derrick.  "The  Ku  Klux  Klan  in  Adams  County,  1866-1875."  Unpublished  graduate 
seminar  paper,  California  State  University,  Northridge.  In  author's  possession. 

Wilson,  Annette  M.  "Natchez  and  the  Civil  War."  Unpublished  document,  Armstrong 
Library,  Natchez,  Mississippi. 

Wisner,  Anita.  "A  Southern  Church:  The  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Natchez." 
Unpublished  graduate  seminar  paper,  California  State  University,  Northridge.  In 
author's  possession. 


236 


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